Have Confidence

In the story, If I Tell, the main character, Jaz, struggles both internally and externally. Externally, she see's her mom's boyfriend, Simon, making out with her best friend, Lacey. She wonders whether or not to tell her mother. Internally she struggles with the fact that she is the only biracial kid in town.

Personally, I think that Jaz handled her external problem really well. She ended up not telling her mother about Simon and Lacey because she thought it would be too much for her to handle (her mom was pregnant). I can totally relate to this because I understand how you might not want to tell someone something because you think it would make things worse.

Internally, Jaz struggles with the fact that she is the only one in the town who is biracial. This causes her to feel like an outcast, and ends up very shy and alone. On occasion, she is even teased for being biracial. In the end of the story, Jaz lets some people really get to know her, and she confronts the bullies. Jaz learns to be more confident and to not always push people away. I think the situation was handled perfectly because in the end Jaz was confident of her race and confident in herself.

In conclusion, that is the internal and external conflict. I think that both situations were handled well. I also think that many people can relate to both the internal and external conflict. Anyone can learn from the book, to have confidence in themselves and to be proud of their race.