Intent Blog
In the novel “Intent” by Krista Wagner we look at a story that focuses on a girl Riley and how she is bored of the same routine in her life. She later faces obstacles in life she would have never thought that would happen to her. Riley is just a small town girl who is a college student and working at a fast food resturant her aunt owns. She becomes insecure and bored with her life because she wants to accomplish something in her life, but never thinks about doing anything. “She didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life, but she did know she didn’t want to do it in Silver Canyon” (1). In just the beginning of the novel we are able to notice that the main character is someone that is confused on what to do with their life and only hope they find a way to get out of the ordinary. I think what Riley mostly wanted was that somehow fate or life brought her something more interesting and different.
One of the qualities that I didn't like about Riley was that she was uninteresting and whiny from the very beginning. She seemed to be unappreciative of what she had going on in her life and only seemed to appreciate it once it was gone. In the story she loses her parents and finds out that her boyfriend whom she got engaged with turns out to be a psycho murderer. Luckily she had people by her side, even when her parents passed away. She still didn’t take it for granted that she had her aunt and her best friend Paul by her side to help her with her grief. She pushed them away and would release all her anger and frustration towards them. Riley was annoying for me in the beginning of the novel and I didn't personally like her. As I read more throughout the novel she starts to change for the better and is a lot more self less.
In this novel I noticed how much the importance of the secondary characters were in the story and how they helped out the main character. Riley is facing a strong loss of her parents and has to battle with her own emotions and thought about how they she lost her parents. She doesn't manage it well and even pushes her best friend Paul away. “His intentions were innocent and loving, but if she’d given into them she would be compromising the wall she’d built” (41). In this thought, Riley is talking about Paul and how he is trying to help her and lighten her grief, but instead she is pushing him away. Paul wanted to help her out and just be able to see her smile would’ve made him feel better. Sadly, Riley wasn’t taking in consideration his feelings because of the way she treated him. Paul was one of the strongest secondary character because although he is treated badly in the middle of the novel he is still understanding and helps out Riley in her time of need.
