Author's Voice: Exploring Ellen Hopkins' Authentic Style of Writing

An author's voice refers to a writing style including the writer’s tone towards the subject along with many other stylistic techniques and figurative language. Pieces of literature that really stand out are those from a series by Ellen Hopkins “Crank” and “Perfect.” There is something about the unique fragmented style and devices such as imagery, repetition and rhythm that really differentiate these from other traditional novels. Some people even say that the books are actually “a collection of poems'.

Ellen Hopkins has an authentic style of writing which is effective in engaging the reader and works well for illustrating the state of mind of a teengager on drugs in a truthful way. Born on March 26, 1955, Hopkins first started writing in 1992. Her first debut novel “Crank” was published in 2004 and it is somewhat based on her adopted daughter’s crystal meth addiction. Teenage drug addiction and sexual issues being such a sensitive matter resulted in hopkins book being banned in many places. On a better note, the content of her book actually became a mandatory reading material for several high school as it brings awareness to these taboo matters which are generally kept in the dark.

“Crank” was the first novel by Hopkins that first brought light to such issues. In this novel Hopkins uses many literary devices such as imagery, allegory, and word choice to enhance her story and engage the readers. The use of symbolism in this book adds great depth to the story and adds to the meaning of “Crank” as a whole. It is known that whenever “monsters’ appear in a story, something bad is about to happen. In this story the monster is not a dragon or a mummy, but it’s Kristina’s meth addiction personified. When given thought, it can be easily understood why crystal meth would be symbolized as the monster. The drug is very powerful and terrifying. Taking over the entire body, it can cause hallucinations. For example, when adam describes how he saw Lince under the influence, he tells Kristina, “The monster rose up hard then, hard in her eyes. She looked like an animal, crazy mad, diseased'

One more very intriguing device used in this book is an allegory. The author has used this technique several times throughout the book, however it requires the reader to pay close attention to the details. Lince the Lynx. lynx are known to be skilled hunters that are able to catch their prey while being able to swiftly avoid human predators. In the book, Lince (Adam’s ex girlfriend) is actually being portrayed as a Lynx. when kristina first meets Lince she tells the readers, “I swear I saw her claws spring out. I froze, prey [...] She had claimed her territory. Later on in the story, when she walks in on Adam and Kristina, “Lince pounced through the door, claws extended, golden eyes growing black'. It can be clearly seen that the character of Lince is described as and is being given the qualities of a Lynx.

“Perfect” is another book by Ellen Hopkins in which there are other literary devices used in a very insightful manner. In this book Hopkins experiments with a different writing style where “The first page of each chapter forms a poem in two columns. All the words make up a single poem, but the shorter fragments in one column make up a separate one”. An example of this would be 'How/why/where/when/who/what' and “Pretty/isn't/good/enough'. If the whole page is read, and then the column with the fewer words is read to find the hidden poem, the double meaning is understood.

In all the literary works by Ellen Hopkins that were analyzed, it’s fair to say that there were many different literary elements, text structures and techniques utilized all throughout. The author has proved to have a very authentic style of writing and has established a writing voice far different from the traditional authors of typical novels.