Challenger Deep

Caden tells the therapy group that he does not blame God for what has happened to any of them. Instead, he says God “gives us courage to deal” (207). Then he says that God hates the people who still can’t deal with problems. 

Caden speculates that if he’d been born in another century, he would have been viewed as a shaman, or a prophet. His prognosis is better, given current technology, but he thinks he would prefer to be a prophet than a mentally ill kid. 

Raoul is a new kid in the therapy group. He hallucinates famous dead people, and Shakespeare in particular. Caden sits by him and asks him whether he feels like he is in one of Shakespeare’s tragedies or comedies when Shakespeare talks to him. He can tell that Raoul really thinks about the question, and he feels good for lightening Raoul’s dark thoughts.