Burned

Burned is Ellen Hopkins's fourth book, and the first book in the Burned Series.

Plot
Pattyn is seventeen years old and is the oldest of seven girls in a Mormon household. Her father is an alcoholic who beats her mother, believing a wife must succumb to her husband's actions. Her mother believes her duty is to make as many children as possible, especially a boy to carry on the family name, just as her husband wishes. But Pattyn's mother only conceived seven girls, named after famous generals: (youngest to oldest) Georgia (George Patton), Roberta (Robert E. Lee), Davie (Jefferson Davis), Teddie (Theodore Roosevelt), Ulyssa (Ulysses S. Grant), Jackie (Jack Pershing), and Pattyn (George Patton). It is hinted that Pattyn deeply disagrees with the strict Mormon lifestyle she's lived throughout her childhood, as well as the expectations that will be held of her as a woman according to her Mormon community, and wishes to break free and gain the freedom to become her own person with her own take on life. She appears to also hold a resentment of her alcoholic father and oppressed, submissive mother, and having to care for her six younger sisters during their father's alcohol-induced rages. Pattyn is unable to take the stress going on in her home, and begins to question her role in life, especially through her father's eyes. Eventually, she starts to experiment with dating Derek behind her parents' backs, then leading to her getting caught drinking with her boyfriend in the desert, by her drunken father. Derek, her boyfriend, leaves her for another girl who is more experienced, whom Pattyn later on punches in the face in rage. Pattyn becomes openly defiant and talks back to her parents and pastor, lashing out and releasing all of the built up emotions and objections she's held for her Mormon lifestyle for a number of years. As a punishment, she is sent away to live with her Aunt Jeanette in eastern Nevada, for her mother is finally expecting a son and does not need to handle the stress Pattyn creates. As Pattyn stays with her aunt, Aunt Jeanette, who tells Pattyn to call her "Aunt J", continues, she finds love from her aunt and a boy named Ethan, who studies at UC Davis and is described by Pattyn as "beautiful". Ethan's father, Kevin, was once Aunt J's high school sweetheart, but after he received a threat with a gun and a beating from Aunt J's brother (Pattyn's father) for not being Mormon, they were forced to separate. During the time Pattyn lives with her aunt, she learns how to love and how to be self-confident, and finds out that there is more to life than just religion, as she thought before. Pattyn is led to believe in God the way her aunt believes in him. Aunt J explains that one does not need "a Mormon husband to meet you at heaven's gates and pull you in", and believes that with love—true and forever love—heaven's gates will open wide. Ethan becomes a dream come true to Pattyn, loving her even though she does not believe that she's beautiful. He teaches her the true meaning of love:[clarification needed] Towards the end of the summer Ethan and Pattyn don't know what to do after Pattyn receives letters regarding Jackie (the next oldest sister) receiving beatings as a stand in for her pregnant mother. They do not confide in Aunt J in fear that she will contact the authorities. Unfortunately for Pattyn and Ethan, her father wants her back home for the school year. Pattyn goes back to school as the more confident "new" Pattyn, as she calls herself, but quickly morphs back into "old" Pattyn after her father turns his rage on her. After some time, Pattyn finds out she is pregnant. Ethan and Pattyn plan to keep the baby and raise it together. However, after a car accident caused by a police officer (friend of Pattyn's dad), Ethan dies and Pattyn loses the baby. Filled with a new bitter strength, she vows that she will one day kill her father.