This 5-page paper provides an overview and commentary on the book Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. It also examines the book from a psychological point of view.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_MTrunsci.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
were running, we could hurt ourselves; worse stab ourselves and really suffer. For Augusten Burroughs, however, running with scissors was the least
of his problems, despite the fact this was the name of his memoirs. Augustens parents were pretty much non-existent (at least in the emotional sense, and by the time he
was 12, in the physical sense) and the "guardians" he was stuck with for the remainder of his formative years likely made getting stabbed with scissors look like a picnic.
The purpose of this paper is to try to answer some specific questions that deal with this book about an extraordinarily dysfunctional
childhood. What aspect of this boys growing up was the most moving and why was it so moving? The relationship of Burroughs
with his mother throughout the book was very moving and somewhat frustrating. At some points during the book, the reader is ready to shake the boy and say "she doesnt
care for you, so move on!" But there are other parts during which the reader really wants to cry for this son and the touching faith in his mother, and
his conviction that what she was doing for him was in his best interest. The problem was, his mother was a selfish
narcissist who really didnt care about anyone, her son especially. The fact she gives him up for adoption to her therapist (when hes twelve, no less) speaks volumes about this
womans instability - she not only turns her own problems over to her therapist she turns over what she literally believes is a problem - Augusten - to her therapist,