Nephi Monologue

To start off, I liked the incident that pulled Nephi out of his safe, secure, and shrewdly balanced religious bubble. A loss is enough to jar anyone, but I found it more respectable and relatable that his uncertainty in his faith, in God, was the result of his friend’s untimely death. As appose to the predictable and narrative cliché of it being Madison’s arrival in the neighborhood.

Of all the characters that circle in Nephi’s orbit, I really liked Madison. Her character offers a clear, alternative perspective not only to the audience, but also to Nephi.
Likewise, I liked the way Russell’s character helped Nephi towards the end of the script. Of my top five favorite scenes, the scene between the two of them was my favorite. Russell puts on the hat of a friend, but also a mentor who helps put things into perspective for Nephi at a time when he needs it the most. It was an unexpectedly subtle, yet powerful scene.

The first, on page 90, with Nephi speeding in his car; this scene appeared to parallel Nephi and Chris’ accident on page 13, just without the crash.

In this moment, it was as though Nephi was challenging God and the crippling obedience he’s had to put up with his entire life. The second narrative parallel is in the Mormon Church on page 107, the moment Nephi steps up to the pulpit to give his speech. This particular scene seemed to match Russell’s confession about his loss of faith, and for Nephi, it is the moment of realization that he did not “believe” anymore