Kurt Cobain in About a Boy

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Sammy Mariano Mr. Hallaren About A Boy November 2, 2012 Kurt Cobain in About a Boy About a Boy is a novel that follows the lives of Marcus and Will; two people that appear very different, whose paths cross in an interesting way. Marcus is an unusual twelve year old boy who doesn’t fit in at school and after just moving to Cambridge he is having a hard time making friends. Will, on the other hand, is a thirty six year old man who is up-to-date on what all the kids are into, despite his age. The author of this novel, Nick Hornby, uses Kurt Cobain as a symbol to represents the story’s main themes. Throughout About a Boy Nick Hornby uses Kurt Cobain to symbolize effects of family life and friendship, depression and suicide, and the importance of pop culture. Marcus was only eleven years old when his parents, Fiona and Clive, got divorced. Ever since they got divorced he primarily lives with his mother and visits his father on weekends. Marcus has a hard time adjusting when he and his mother move to Cambridge. At first he doesn’t fit in at all and he is constantly being bullied; and on top of that his mother is always depressed. Every morning when he wakes up she is crying, it gets to a point where she cannot even care for him anymore. At first Marcus tries to cheer her up and make her happy, he realizes that nothing he can do will help his mother. One day Marcus goes on a picnic with his mother’s friend Suzie and her friend Will. When they arrive back to Marcus’s house they find his mother has tried to kill herself. At this point Marcus feels that his mother does not care about him and he decides that two people are not enough for a family. He sets out to find more people to build a secure and happy family. Marcus tries to get his mother and Will together so that if anything happens to his mom Will could care for him. It turns out that Fiona and Will were

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