This Dying Made Me Way Brave Analysis

“This dying thing makes me way brave” (292). Deadline is a novel written by Chris Crutcher and, it tells the story of a teenage boy who is faced with a terminal disease, and has less than a year to live so he decides to forgo treatment so he can live the last year of his life to the fullest. In Deadline, Chris Crutcher develops the theme of how decisions can shape a person’s identity through the main character’s decision to hide his leukemia, so he began to talk to his crush, argue with his history teacher, and play football.

Ben began to talk to his high school crush only because of his decision to hide his disease. Once Ben began to talk to Dallas Susuki it wasn’t long till he fell in love with her, even though she confessed to him that she was raped and already had a son. After Dallas told Ben this secret Ben contemplated telling Dallas about his disease but he still refused to tell her. Eventually Ben told Dallas and she became very angry at him. “I couldn’t imagine you’d like me… knowing I was dying made me brave” (254). Dallas then made Ben leave his house because she was so angry that he hid this secret for so long. This quote shows that since Ben concealed his secret it made him brave enough to talk to the girl of his dreams. This is just one of many things Ben did since he hid his secret from everyone in his life.

Once Ben found out

The theme is shown through the main character by his decision to hide his terminal disease so it made him more brave and open to other thing because he knew he had nothing to lose. Many people make decisions in their life that changes their identity without even them noticing. “I shared glory on the football field I would have never experienced had I not known my fate because I wouldn't have had the nerve to try. Risk”