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Argument: Coupland uses noteworthy pop-culture to name and create his novel Girlfriend in a Coma. The Smiths' a popular band of the '80s was the reason behind the books title while Karen Ann Quinlan was the true reason the teenage girl in the book who slipped into a coma was also ironically named Karen. Starting with the basics Coupland constructed Girlfriend in a Coma to mean more than what was put on the surface. The turning point of Coupland's career as a serious author blossomed after he successfully published Girlfriend in a Coma, a dark and daring book that involves post-apocalyptic events. Difficult overbearing situations was what fascinated Coupland and was one of the main influential reasons Coupland wrote the novel Girlfriend in a Coma; the thrill of watching teenagers and later on adults survive in a world where their only worry was to find their true purpose on Earth. Evidence: "On the surface, the book seems vintage Coupland, taking a cue from pop-culture icons like Karen Ann Quinlan, the New Jersey teenager who spent 10 years in a coma before dying in 1985, and The Smiths, the quintessential band of '80s disaffection from whose song the book takes its title." ". And yet, Girlfriend in a Coma is Coupland's most audacious novel to date, and it marks something of a watershed in his career." "Sitting in a posh Toronto hotel lounge sipping coffee, Coupland struggles to find words to describe the genesis of Girlfriend in a Coma. "It's so weird to talk about this out loud," he says. But eventually, between frequent changes of subject, he remembers that it began with a quote from novelist Thomas Pynchon. "He said the way young people deal with the overwhelming-ness of existence--I'm paraphrasing--is through time travel or sleep," Coupland says. "So what I wanted to do was present sleep and time travel, and the coma as the embodiment of both." "Then there was his fascination with Karen Ann Quinlan. "I just remember in the '70s, every

James Urguhart, the author of a Girlfriend In A Coma criticism, expresses that Douglas Coupland establishes novels in order to show examples of the way individuals should live. But for instance, in Girlfriend In A Coma, it takes a tragic event to occur in order for the other characters to realize their significance in this life as well as on earth. Urguhart's purpose of the critique is to prove that Coupland is an author who writes about the edge of the world as well as uses characters to portray that there is more to life than just living. The article by James Urguhart is effective in explaining the in depth concepts presented in Girlfriend In A Coma. Urguhart utilizes specific quotes from the novel in which symbolize his opinions, but he chooses quotes serve as evidence. The argument is focus and does not stray off topic which is significant because it helps the reader understand the argument fully and not become lost in it. The evidence that is provided assists the argument and does not hurt it, especially when Urguhart places quotes from the novel into the argument. For example, "their dreams are forgotten, or were never formulated to begin with...they seem at best insular and without a central core, which might give purpose to their lives." The quote taken from Girlfriend In A Coma represents that book as a whole within a quote and Urguhart realizes this and therefore places it within his argument. Urguhart also notices that the purpose of the novel, Girlfriend In A Coma, is to ensure that one has to discover their purpose in life and that it is not always on the surface. Also, a common word and symbol found within the novel was dreams and this quote represents dreams and how they effect lives. The author does not state his opinions using "I" or "my" which implicates that Urguhart states a view and supports it with quotes or examples from the text in a professional manner. The Girlfriend In A Coma criticism consisted of significant evid

Argument: Coupland illustrates the characters in Girlfriend in a Coma as confident and collected while simultaneously demonstrating their struggle to find their place in the world. Each chapter interrupts the flow of the story, often jumping from one major event to another, skipping the minor details in between. Hamilton is concerned that they are not doing anything to change the world on their own but rather wasting their time with careers such as modeling that have no positive impacts in the world around them. Karen's fears transform into a reality when she falls into a coma for seventeen years. As time passes, her friends lose all of their dreams, hopes, and passions for their careers. An apocalyptic event has not taken place so Coupland takes his story Girlfriend in a Coma to the extreme by inventing and transforming the book from a story about teenagers into a story about teenagers whom are trapped in adult bodies. Evidence: "And they don't cope well. "There's nothing at the centre of what we do," Hamilton complains, and Coupland homes in on his true subject. Waking from her coma, Karen is alarmed that her friends mirror the new soullessness she sees in society: "Their dreams are forgotten, or were never formulated to begin with...they seem at best insular, and without a central core, which might give purpose to their lives." "Coupland successfully raises the pitch to the apocalyptic with his sarin-style, X Files-ish mass sleeping, but then stumbles headlong into adult fable by pursuing his Big Moral Question. Why are our lives empty? Jared, a ghost, takes over from Richard as narrator, introducing a dangerously glutinous, pan-Christian murk of cosmology as he leads the adult-kids though fumbling dissolution towards an ethical gravitas." "Such chapter headings as "Reject Every Idea" (familiar from Generation X) slice across the continuity of Couplan

Coupland throws these teens into his own life growing up, it was his home town and his mood. This talks of Karen's coma starting through a misunderstanding, thinking she is just passed out from starvation and over indulging in alcohol. Coupland wrote "beyond the edge of the known world" in this novel about post apocalyptic world in Canada.

Coupland is a unique writer who makes no point within his novel, "Girlfriend In A Coma". Teenagers would mostly be attracted to his books because his characters are carefree and he is not out to teach his readers a lesson. "Girlfriend In A Coma juxtaposes the slick confidence of youth culture with a clumsy, easy-to-ridicule search for a right-minded way of living. It provides no solutions, but sustains a plea for intellectual individuality and a rigorous reassessment of workaday assumptions."

Coupland throws these teens into his own life growing up, it was his home town and his mood. This talks of Karen's coma starting through a misunderstanding, thinking she is just passed out from starvation and over indulging in alcohol. Coupland wrote "beyond the edge of the known world" in this novel about post apocalyptic world in Canada. http://go.galegroup.com.lib.chandleraz.gov/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CH1100033666&v=2.1&u=chandler_main&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w

Jenny Turner, the author of the article entitled, "Top Of The World," discusses the variety of novels that Douglas Coupland has written and analyzes their purposes. Miss Wyoming, being one of Coupland's novels, is focused on the majority of the article and is summarized as well as criticized. Jenny Turner's main purpose of the article is to argue that Miss Wyoming is a novel that is "structured around fantasies of escape" due to the fact that the two main characters in Miss Wyoming are constantly searching for an escape route to life. Although, the organization of the article itself does not make the argument as effective as it could be. Statements related to Miss Wyoming are scattered around the article and therefore the reader has to search for the sections that Miss Wyoming is talked about. This makes the article confusing to navigate as well as unorganized. Fortunately, Jenny Turner places valid statements within the article in which forces the reader to make conclusions about Douglas's novel and utilizes the text as evidence. Throughout the piece, Turner takes quotes from Miss Wyoming in order to support the claims being noted and the quotes that are chosen do effectively support the arguments. Although it is not directly stated, one can infer that an argument in which Jenny Turner is defending is that due to the events that take place in Miss Wyoming, in order to discover the true meaning of life, one must witness a tragedy. Jenny Turner attempts to prove that Coupland writes novels that consist of a series of tragedies in which the characters go through in order to find meaning in their lives. The two novels that Turner utilizes to support this argument are Girlfriend In A Coma and Miss Wyoming. By connecting the two novels in her article, one is able to see the common situations and themes in the majority of Coupland's novels.