Special Someone Saturday (7)

Special Someone Saturday...is a weekly Saturday meme hosted by Fishy over at The Reading Fish that gives readers a chance to gush about all the awesome book guys and gals they met that week!

You can participate too! Here are all the details from Miss Fishy:
~You can join me and gush over amazing people on your blogs :D
~ We can make this a follow blog hop, so people can jump post to post and visit your amazing blog!
~And lastly add the button (above) if you would like ! Or you can make your own !

Q. Who is the toughest character you have ever discovered? It can be mentally, physically, or emotionally. what made them so special?

Hmm, this is a tough (teehee, I know I'm HIGH-larious) question. For me, one of the toughest characters I've ever encountered is Callie from Patricia McCormick's Cut. Calli is a character that is near and dear to my hear, and her particular story is one that I have a very personal connection to. Before I explain just what makes her so tough, I must first introduce Cut...

"A tingle arced across my scalp. The floor tipped up at me and my body spiraled away. Then I was on the ceiling looking down, waiting to see what would happen next." Callie cuts herself. Never too deep, never enough to die. But enough to feel the pain. Enough to feel the scream inside. Now she's at Sea Pines, a "residential treatment facility" filled with girls struggling with problems of their own. Callie doesn't want to have anything to do with them. She doesn't want to have anything to do with anyone. She won''t even speak. But Callie can only stay silent for so long...

As you can tell from the synopsis, Callie is a girl dealing with some heavy stuff, and in the beginning of the book, she doesn't really go about this in a good way. Callie is not particularly physically or emotionally (at least not yet) tough, but she is mentally tough. Callie refuses to talk about her cutting and the underlying problems, and in doing so she builds up this strong wall around her, not allowing anyone in or allowing herself out. This isn't a healthy or positive way to deal, but it is quite effective. Callie's mental toughness allows her to protect herself from judging people, intrusive doctors, and even from herself. She spends so long trying to convince everyone else that she simply does not need anyone but herself, that she slowly begins to believe it. 

Of course, this mental wall eventually breaks and positively so. But I think Callie's mental toughness really prepares her to slowly become emotionally tough as well.