Structral Analysis - Looking for Jj

Structural Analysis - Looking for JJ

Looking for JJ is a teen fiction/murder mystery book by Anne Cassidy. This book follows the typical novel structure of rising action, climax and falling action. The rising action, climax and falling action are all very clear in this book. Looking for JJ is told in 3rd person limited but is spilt into 2 main parts. One part is from the past, while the other is the present. They each have their own plot, but when they are looked as one part, they follow the typical novel structure. This novel follows the typical novel structure because it follows the order of rising action, climax and falling action. In the end, both parts come together as one and all the loose ends from both parts were tied in the very last part.

In this novel there are many clear instances of rising action. All of these pieces of rising action affect the plot and clearly shows that it leads towards the climax of the book. One instance of rising action is when Alice Tully realizes that people began to look for Jennifer Jones again. "Three children who had gone up to Berwick Waters on a spring day six years before. Names that had been plastered over the newspapers for many months. Only one name had remained famous. Jennifer Jones." (pg.16) "He was despicable and he was looking for JJ. If only knew that he had found her." (pg.18) This is a big rising action because Alice Tully realizes that people are looking for JJ again. This starts to build tension in the story and Alice Tully's story is finally being explained. Another point of rising action is when Jennifer hit Sonia in the head with a recorder. Jennifer had gotten upset that Sonia and Michelle became friends and Michelle had not wanted anything to do with her. It shows that Jennifer has some insecurity problems with friends. "Jennifer hated Sonia. She couldn't stand to look at her silly face for a minute longer. She raised the recorder and banged it on her forehead." (pg.150) This leads to the next piece of rising action when Jennifer had pushed Lucy in to Berwick waters. She had gotten upset that Lucy's brothers had inappropriate photos of her mum so she pushed Lucy into the lake because of all the anger that was building up inside. "She stepped forward giving a rough, hard shove until Lucy stumbled back away from her and toppled off the rocky ledge into the water." (pg.204) All three instances lead directly to the climax of the story.

The climax follows right after the rising action and the climax of this story is when Jennifer murders Michelle with the baseball bat. After Jennifer had pushed Lucy into the water, Michelle begins to get angry with her and says many rude things to Jennifer. She began to say things about Jennifer's mom and how she didn't want to be Jennifer's friend anymore. This is the climax because it is the turning point, the