"No One Else Can Have You" Blog Post (warning: spoilers)

The story "No One Else Can Have You” by Kathleen Hale is about a girl named Kippy who is investigating on who actually killed her best friend Ruth. Everyone in the town believes that no one else would do it except for the guy who they threw in jail. But when Kippy wants everyone to know that the man they threw into jail didn’t do it they deem her as crazy. Through all of these hard times Kippy is still able to stay really strong and never give up.

Kippy has gotten so many put downs from everyone around her, but she is still extremely perseverant. One person who is restricting her is her father.  He barely lets her go anywhere by herself, “Usually Dom’s [her dad’s] idea of ‘personal space’ entitles texting me every five seconds and sitting every close to me on the couch but not so close that our bodies are touching.” it is appropriate for a parent to worry about their child, and although there was a recent murder in the town, a parent with a kid of the age of 16 shouldn’t have to be so closely watched like Kippy is. Another thing that could stop her from finding out who actually killed her best friend is the fact that her best friend, Ruth, never actually liked Kippy. “Kippy is so pathetic it makes me nauseous… If we lived anywhere else, like any place remotely interesting, I’d have way more options, and she and I wouldn’t even know each other.” This is showing that Kippy never knew that she was so hated by the only person who she believed was her friend. And the still after reading this page in Ruth’s journal she still is determined to find out who killed her claimed to be “friend”. This shows how she was externally conflicted on how she could just break down.

Besides being conflicted from the outside she was also conflicted from the inside of her. Her mother had died many years before, but she is constantly thinking about her mom throughout the book and, by adding this Hale is showing us that Kippy has trouble dealing with death. Another example is how she started falling in love with Ruth’s older brother who Kippy has always known her own life. This an internal conflict because she could feel that it is morally wrong because after her friend dies, she goes and dates the brother, but she doesn’t find this to be morally wrong and that leads to making her life difficult. And these things could put Kippy down in her investigation because her brother might not enjoy the fact that Kippy has to investigates his sister’s death, and the mother’s death can bring her into a relapse of sadness.

Kippy has many challenges that she has to face. But Kippy doesn’t let any of these things stop her. She has these conflicts coming from inside of her and out. This can teach us the reader that we have to be perseverant, and face all challenges head on.