In the book The Sum and Total of Now by Don Robertson there is no specific social issue. The book focuses on the struggles and issues of a young teen growing up. Morris Bird III faces a lot of struggles as he goes through adolescence, but nothing out of the ordinary. The story is told from Morris' perspective, but I feel that the main excluded voice is that of Morris' parents.
In this book the parents have no input into Morris' live or problems. There are several different scenes in the story in which you see the parents opnions excluded. Moriss' aunt is dying and he goes through a very emotional time with this. When he is trying to come to terms with this there is nothing at all said by the parents. They are characters but when he is dealing with stuff they sort of slump away into the background. I actually like the fact that they are. I feel like I can relate to it more because it is how I deal with stuff. The fact that the parents voices are excluded gives you a better incite into a young teens mind. In a lot of books I feel that the kid has a trouble and the parents swoop in and fix everything. This isn't reality. If I have a problem my last choice is to go to my parents, I first want to try to fix things my self. Now because the parents voices are excluded the problems have more meaning and depth to them. When Morris attempts to solve his problems you see a more raw story, and you get a better sense of the character.
I belive its the parents voice that it's excluded. I think this advances the story and makes it more complex. Sometimes adults try to but their heads into problems they can't understand. Kids can sometimes when left to their own devices do a great job of solving their problems.
