Breaking Night A Memoir Of Forgiveness, Survival, And...

Liz Murray Research Report One of the most inspiring, amazing, and smart people that I know of is Liz Murray. Liz’s parents were desperate drug addicts. They were unemployed so any money that they did get, was mostly used for drugs. This caused more hardships in Liz’s and her sister, Lisa’s life. Since most of the money they had went to drugs, Liz and her family were practically very poor. Liz wasn’t motivated to go to school. She felt embarrassed and didn’t want to be seen, because of her dirty appearance. However, there was something special about Liz. She wouldn’t go to school for days on end, and then pass all her tests. Eventually, Liz decided that she wanted to become a real student. She went to high school and passed with flying†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Murray was the only member of the family who had a job. At age 9, she started bagging groceries and pumping gas.† (Adult Student) This may be one of the reasons that they were practically homele ss. Liz Murray really did have a very difficult childhood. Things were very bad for Liz, until one day, she decided to shape up. A website about Liz Murray talks about when she decided to go to highschool. â€Å"She had nowhere to live and had not attended school regularly for years, but at 17 pledged to become a straight A student and complete her high school education in just two years.† (Guardian News) I think that this is just the beginning of Liz’s road to Harvard. It talks about how she got to highschool, in a website about Liz. It says, â€Å"Although many high schools denied her entrance because she was truant, in 1997 Murray enrolled at the Humanities Preparatory School, a new progressive public school in downtown Manhattan.† (The Harvard Crimson) Liz went to high school, and blossomed. She was a â€Å"straight A† student and at the top of her class. However, things weren’t so perfect at home. In that amount of time, Liz’s mother died of aids, and her father left Liz and Lisa, her sister. T hey had been staying with their uncle at the time. However, their uncle was abusive to them so Miller 3 while Lisa stayed, Liz went out on her own a couple of nights at a time. She even talks about it in her book. â€Å"After a few weeks of being so dependant on people, I began sleeping a few