FREE ESSAY ON DON'T SCREAM

DON'T SCREAM

Curiosity
One characteristic of Jessica Donnally in the book, Don't Scream, by Joan Lowery Nixon,
is curiosity. Jess spends much of her time attempting to find out the details of other
people's lives, and it often gets her in trouble.
The main characters in the book are Jessica Donnally, Lori Roberts, Mark Malik and Scott
Alexandar. Jess is a normal sixteen-year-old girl with an unsatisfiable curiosity and a
great compassion for kids. Lori is Jess's best friend. Mark and Scott have both recently
moved to Oakberry, Texas.
Jess is excited when she learns that there is going to be two new students in her school.
When she finds out that one of them, Mark, is moving in next door, she jumps at the
chance to welcome him. Her mom bakes a cake and when Jess takes it over to the Malik's
house, she finds out that they are a little different from most families. Mrs. Malik
seems confused and threatened by Jess offering her the cake as a welcome gift. However,
Mark seems semi-normal, and he explains that where his family used to live, in New York,
people are not neighborly. Jessica likes Mark despite that she does not know much about
him. When she calls Lori, Jess discovers that she is interested in a new student also,
Scott.
Before the school year starts, Jess and Lori decide to spend one last day at the nearby
lake. To get to the lake, they take a shortcut through the woods. They are the only ones
who know about the shortcut. On the way to the lake, they stop at a large rock they had
named Castle Rock as children. Instead of continuing on to the lake, Jess and Lori sit on
the rock and talk for a while. Then, Jess thinks someone is watching them, and both of
them run out of the forest.
That night, Jess sees Mark again and is curious about what looks like tree moss on his
shoes. She immediately questions him about whether he has ever been in the woods.
However, even when Mark says he has never been in the woods, Jess has a herd time
believing him. Something in his voice does not seem right.
The next morning, Mark asks Jess to walk with him to school. Mark tells her that he has a
really bad temper and wants her to help him stay out of trouble. Jess finds the entire
conversation confusing because Mark has been nothing but pleasant so far.
During her first day back at school, Jess meets Scott in her journalism class, in which
Mark is also. Scott is very quiet and seems to have something against Mark right from the
beginning. In class, they often start arguments and glare at each other from across the
room.
After school, the four of them, Mark, Scott, Jessica, and Lori, all take the shortcut
through the woods to the lake. Although Scott had just moved there, he leads the way
through the woods to the lake. Jess wonders if maybe he had taken the shortcut before.
However, the only way he could have known about it is if he had been watching them in the
woods that day.
Lori brings up an old legend about a haunted cemetery hidden somewhere in the woods, and
she suggests that they all go looking for it sometime. Everyone thinks it is a good idea,
except Jess. Her mother had told her not to look for the cemetery when she was little,
and Jess had promised that she would not. However, Jess thinks about it and decides that
she is older now and a childhood promise should not matter to her any longer. Jess
reluctantly agrees to go with them if they every search for the cemetery.
Scott is very discreet about his past and is careful about what he reveals. This
frustrates Jess because she likes to know everything about everyone. She questions Scott
relentlessly until he finally says he lives with his aunt in the apartment buildings. All
of Jessica's questions insult Scott, and he asks her to stop. Jess realizes that she is
being nosy and apologizes. Nevertheless, she still cannot stop wondering about whom Scott
really is and why he would have followed them.
On the way home from the lake, Jess walks with Mark and tells him her idea for a
volunteer program. She wants to set up a program through their social problems class. It
will allow students to spend time helping children in the hospital. Mark thinks it is a
great idea and encourages Jess to bring it up to their teacher. They are both excited
about the plan, but Jess makes it a point that she cannot carry it through until she asks
her mom. Jess's grades in school have not been that great, and she already has an
after-school job that takes up much of her time.
In social problems class the next day, Mark suddenly brings up Jessica's idea for the
volunteer program. Their teacher loves the idea and suggests that the entire class get
involved. When they are establishing the committee, Mark explains that it was all
originally Jess's idea. At this point, the teacher recommends that Jess heads the
committee, since it was her idea. When they appoint Jess head of the committee, Mark
becomes unjustifiably mad and sulks around for the rest of the day.
After school, Jess avoids Mark because he brought up her idea when he knew she was not
ready yet. Instead of going with her friends after school, Jess goes straight home to
convince her mother to allow her to head the volunteer committee. Her mother is reluctant
at first, but agrees to let her do it if she can keep her grades up and handle her job
too. To do these things, she has to stop talking on the telephone and watching
television.
In Jess's next journalism class she learns how to use everyday resources to find out
personal information about people. She decides to use her new knowledge to find more out
about Scott. She plans to start after she visits the children's ward to get a head start
on the volunteer program.
When she gets to the hospital, Mark and Scott, who has also become involved in the
program, have already begun setting the program up. This makes Jess mad because she is
the head of the committee and it was all her idea. She does not understand why they are
both getting so involved. Mark does not even seem to like kids and is only interested in
volunteering so he can establish a good reputation.
When Jessica leaves the hospital, she is eager to begin her research on Scott. First she
goes to his apartment building. Jess talks to his next door neighbor who knows Scott, but
has never seen his aunt. Next, she visits his aunt's place of employment, but the people
there have never heard of or seen her. At this point, Jess becomes very suspicious and
remembers that when she looked in Scott's apartment, the only things in there were a
telephone and a bed. Jess realizes that Scott was lying about living with his aunt. She
wonders what else he has lied about.
That night, before Jess goes to bed, she sees a figure standing behind the tree in the
Malik's yard. She is tempted to go outside and see who it is, but she goes to bed
instead.
The next morning, the Donnally's elderly neighbor's cat is missing. Jess immediately
thinks of the figure by the tree and goes over to check it out. All she finds is a full
can of tuna inside the Malik's garbage bag. Jess thinks that the figure may have used it
to attract the cat. Jessica and her mom help their neighbor search for the cat all day
with no luck.
At school, Jess asks her computer-genius friend, Eric, to look up the name Scott
Alexandar on the internet and see if he has a criminal record. Eric, who Jess used to
have a crush on, changed drastically after he discovered computers. Although Eric is
extremely smart and well liked, he spends every spare moment on a computer.
The next night, Jess lets her cat, Pepper, go outside while she is doing her homework.
After a while, Jess realizes that Pepper has not come back inside yet, and she begins
calling for him. When Pepper does not come, Jess grabs a flashlight and searches for him
outside. Without any luck, Jess goes back inside. She figures Pepper will turn up the
next day. When she finds an open can of tuna in her trash can, she knows that Pepper is
gone forever.
Eric brings the results of his internet search to Jess the next day. Eric discovered that
Scott Alexandar was a little boy who had died when he was only a few months old. The
Scott Alexandar that Jess knows had taken the boy's name and established a new identity
with it. Jess is immediately more apprehensive about Scott and who he really is. She asks
Eric to look up Mark Malik on the internet. She thinks it might also be a fake name.
Jess takes a walk through the woods that day after school. Suddenly, she comes across two
graves that are side-by-side. They are approximately cat-size, and each has a little
headstone. The graves horrify Jess, and it scares her even more when Scott shows up at
her side. Scott says he has seen graves like that before. Jess, assuming Scott is the one
who killed the cats, runs out of the woods with Scott following her.
Jess runs right into Mark who tells her that her next-door neighbor needs help. He leads
her into her neighbor's house, where a person is lying on the floor. Mark asks Jess to
drink some iced-tea. Jess, realizing it is poisoned, refuses to drink it and smashes the
pitcher to the floor. Mark grabs the jagged handle of the pitcher and pins Jess against
the wall. Mark tells Jess that he has to kill her because he needs a good reputation. He
needs to be the head of the volunteer committee; moreover, she has ruined all of his
plans for a clean start.
Suddenly, Scott bursts into the house and attempts to protect Jess. Unfortunately, Mark
hits him on the head with the pitcher handle, knocking him out. He drags Jess into the
woods by the graves. He plans to kill her and burying her next to her cat. Jess tries to
talk Mark out of it. She cannot believe what is happening. Eric and Scott come running
into the woods, distracting Mark. Jess takes the opportunity to punch Mark in the
stomach. Then, she hits him over the head with a stick.
As Scott, Eric, and Jess are all carrying Mark out of the woods. Eric explains that he
was bringing the results of his internet search to Jess when he saw her neighbor's
emergency light flashing. He found Scott on the floor and helped him up when he went
inside to check things out. Then, Scott told Eric that Mark was going to kill Jess. Both
of them ran into the woods to save her.
After Mark is out of the woods, Eric runs to call the police. Jess and Scott are left
alone, and Scott finally explains who he really is. He had been following Mark to protect
people from him. Mark had killed Scott's cousin. However, since he could not prove Mark
was guilty of murder, Scott vowed to protect other people from Mark. Scott had changed
his name so Mark would not know who he was. Now that Mark is finally going to jail, Scott
can go back home and relax.
Jess shows the characteristic of curiosity throughout the story. She constantly asks
questions that pry into people's personal lives. When she cannot get anyone to answer her
questions, she starts investigating people. Jess's characteristic of curiosity is
important to the story, because Mark would not have gotten mad at her if she had not
asked so many questions.