Cut is a story of a teenage girl who slits her wrists. She doesn't know why she does it, but it she likes the way it feels. She describes the first time she ever cuts herself, and she makes it sound like it gives her relief. The story starts out and the reader is the psychiatrist at the mental institution that she is in called Sea Pines. She doesn't talk to anyone, not even the psychiatrist. The book takes you through her struggle as she deals with the things that are going on in her life. Her brother, Sam is sick with a severe case of asthma. Her dad works all the time and she hardly sees him. Her mother is always too busy taking care of Sam, and so Callie feels alone. She tells her story while she is at Sea Pines. Her room-mate, Sydney, calls her "S.T." for silent treatment because Callie doesn't talk to anyone. .
Patricia McCormick does an excellent job displaying Callie's struggle to fit into the world. One of the ideas McCormick writes in this novel is about fitting in. Not just into a crowd at school, but into the world. I got the idea that Callie was cutting herself because she felt alone and that she was not part of the world. McCormick showed me that we aren't alone by having Sydney and the other girls in Callie's group speak to her and protect her. There was a part of the book where Callie is in the restroom and one of her group mates tried to talk to her. There are several instances in the book where these girls try to communicate with Callie. But Callie just ignores them, and no one knows why. When Callie finally talks she begins to feel better about herself, she begins to ignore the need to slit her wrists. As a matter of fact there is a point in the book where one night Callie actually does cut herself. But as the metal digs into her skin the satisfaction she once felt was replaced by pain which she had not experienced before. Callie begins to accept the girls around her and she begins to realize she is not alone.
