Double Dare by Cathy Hopkins

What if you got yourself into a huge dating disaster and didn’t know how to fix it? What would you do? Well, Mac got himself into just this. His life was like a bad sitcom, but usually very funny to his friends. Double Dare by Cathy Hopkins was obviously a comedy by its plot line, characteristics and symbolism.

The first spot on the plot line is a normal, everyday life. At the beginning of the book, Mac has a normal, everyday life with his parents divorced and enjoying the beautiful summer day. The second spot on the plot line is the main character causes a minor problem. Mac did cause a problem which was confusing a bunch of girls about being his girlfriend or not. It was a mess! The next spot on the plot line is that the conflict is realized. It was defiantly realized because his real girlfriend broke up with him and all the other girls got mad. The next spot was the resolution. Mac finally told all the girls the truth and got it all fixed. Which leads to the last spot on the plot line, back to normal, everyday life and that’s exactly how it ended with Mac and all the girls.

Even though the plot line is an important part in my decision, the characteristics really show that this is story is a comedy. One of the characteristics to a comedy is that it is realistic. This is obviously realistic because this could happen to any boy or young man. The other characteristic to a romance is that the main character is in control. Mac was in control because he was the one that fixed everything between him and the other girls. Even though sometimes one of the girls tried to take control, he always made sure he was the one in control.

While the characteristics really show that this story is a comedy, the symbolism truly helps understand why the story is a comedy. The time of day and time of the year fits exactly into the story. The whole book was about having fun in the summer with friends. It didn’t really talk about night time, just day time! It was always sunny and never once was there a rain storm! You could feel how natural and how bright the story was. Even though most parts of the book took place in the living room or kitchen, they were still outside a lot. When I read it, it felt like I was right there in the scene. That’s how great the author described its surrounding.

As you can see the plot line, characteristics and symbolism clearly state that Double Dare was a comedy. It wasn’t necessarily funny, but comedies in the mode of literature, don’t have to be! I wonder how it would be like if I had a dating disaster when I’m older. I would probably tell the truth, just like Mac did. The lesson learned was a truly important lesson in life.