Augusten Burroughs's Memoir Running With Scissors

In Running with Scissors: a memoir, Augusten Burroughs writes about his life from age 9 to 17 years old. In the beginning of the book Augusten describes the admiration of his mother, glorifying her to an unsettling extent. He explains that his enjoyment of opera music and formal wear can be credited to his mother. He expands on his enjoyment by including his fascination of shiny things by polishing. He gives insight of his parents, his mother being a poet who is adamant that she will someday be famous because of her poems and his father, a severe alcoholic.

Burroughs describes the tense relationship between his father and mother with harsh words and actions. After his mother had her first minor psychotic break she seeks help from a psychiatrist

Finch’s household at first seemed amusing but was proven otherwise. It is slowly revealed that he actually advocates for sexual relationships between children and adults. And that he abused his influence of being a doctor, by manipulating with medication and psychological factors. His unethical ways begins to shine especially in a certain scene when he gives Burrough alcohol and unauthorized medication to help assist in his fake suicide attempt, so he could be taken out of school, which ultimately lead to him dropping out of school. This leads to Burrough not having a solid base of education which makes it harder for him to secure a job in the future.

A couple years later, Natalie and Burrough decide to get an apartment together and to attend community college. While Natalie excels in her classes Burrough ultimately drops out. As a week passes since he dropped out his mother reaches out to him and confesses that she was raped by Dr.Finch. With this being told, Natalie believes that his mother is just having another breakdown. Dr.Finch wants his support in the effort of getting his mother hospitalized. However, Burrough believes in his mother’s confession and when faced with having to decide sides he runs