Highway Blossoms Book Report

The short story, “Treasure State” by Tin House, is full of reflection, guilt, and loneliness. Mainly, the story entails the journey of two brothers fleeing their hometown after their incarcerated father, Old Man, is granted mercy due to his terminal cancer to return home. The brothers, John and Daniel, would rather leave town than to live with the Old Man so they set their eyes on the “treasure state,” Montana. The story details their journey to wild destinations and fleeing their past while making it by any means necessary. Along the way, readers are introduced to a few minor female characters: Gwen, the mother of the boys, and “the lady on the bed.” The importance of these minor characters is grossly underappreciated. This is because while the main themes of this story are readily apparent, there are some equally important themes driven by this group of more underrepresented female characters.

Walker continues to use negative imagery and ideas to reveal her hesitation towards the arrangement. The author uses these literary devices because she wants to illustrate Roselily’s reasons for marrying the man. Roselily does this because it is what's best for her and her children. In a way, Roselily is being forced because she does not have a better alternative to her current life. By marrying the man, Roselily will have a renewed lifestyle and reputation. Roselily imagines the flowers in her hand as kids. When she does this, her head fills with murderous thoughts. “A squeeze around the flowers in her hands chokes off three and four and five years of breath” (Walker 4). As guilty as Roselily feels, this shows how Roselily wishes she never had given birth to any of her kids. When she tightens her grip on the bouquet of flowers, she thinks of her children. Roselily dreams she did not give birth to these kids. Roselily’s ideas of murder could possibly be associated with her obsession with the idea of her personal spirit being robbed from her. Weddings usually give off positive connotations, however in Roselily’s mind she disturbs the happy wedding with dark thoughts such as the idea of murder. Deviating from the topic of “personal spirit”, Brent studies the ferocious thoughts swarming Roselily’s mind. “Roselily’s rebellious thoughts during the wedding ceremony go so far as to enter the realms of murder and blasphemy. She expresses a wish that she could be free of her three

Paul Jennings’ “A Dozen Bloomin’ Roses” is an effective and well written short story. It is part of a larger text called Quirky Tales which is part of the “Un” series written by Paul Jennings. It is a ghost story that may mistake for a sad romance as it contains death, shyness, unrequited love and bullies. The author uses a device called misdirection which makes you think one thing deliberately. Along with this, Paul Jennings’ effective use of language techniques leaves the reader with a striking imagery in their minds. But the things that stand out most for me are Paul Jennings’ clever use of characterisation and the interesting storyline.

The Flowers By Alice Walker Written in the 1970's The Flowers is set in the deep south of America and is about Myop, a small 10-year old African American girl who explores the grounds in which she lives. Walker explores how Myop reacts in different situations. She writes from a third person perspective of Myop's exploration. In the first two paragraph Walker clearly emphasises Myop's purity and young innocence.

In the novel, The Street by Ann Petry the main character Lutie Johnson, a black woman is a single mother raising her son Bub in 1944 Harlem. Lutie, separated from her husband Jim faces many challenges including poverty, sexism, and racism. Children, like her son Bub, living in poverty in the 1940’s cared for themselves while single mothers like Lutie were working; the same is still true today. Lutie was trying to earn a living in order to get Bub and herself out of Harlem, and into a neighborhood where Bub would have a better living conditions including school. Bub was afraid to be alone in their apartment so he spent a great deal of time on the street around external influences that were not the ideal. The street educated Bub instead of the school system. In Harlem, in 1944, poor, black children advanced though the school system whether they were able to read and write or not, the same is true for impoverished children today. In Bub’s neighborhood, his schoolteacher was a white woman who was prejudice against Bub and his classmates based on their skin color and their economic situation. Children like Bub, living in impoverished communities, do not have access to good education and miss the opportunity that education brings due to racism and poverty.

Unbroken, written by Laura Hillenbrand, is a biography about a man named Louie Zamperini who lived in Torrance, California. The story begins with Louie as a boy who often gets into trouble. After maturing past his delinquent phase, he becomes a very talented runner. The idea of becoming a runner was introduced to Louie by his oldest brother Pete. Pete always had great faith in his little brother and wanted to see him do great things with his life. Louie was such a great runner that he made it to the German Olympics in 1936. Although, these Olympic games were different because Louie was not a German, and this was a big deal because Germany was currently being ruled by Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler believed in one supreme race, and when he saw

For my summer reading, I read Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand. The story is about Louis “Louie” Zamperini. Louis was a juvenile delinquent, Olympic runner, and an airman during World War II. In the beginning of the book, it explains Louie’s exploits as a child and his training as a runner. After going to the New York Olympic trials, he travels to Berlin to participate in the 1936 Olympics. During the Olympics, Louie ran the 5000m and then was able to meet personally with Adolf Hitler. Then he stole a Nazi flag from the Chancellery, and after being questioned by a German official, he was able to keep the banner. Another interesting part of the story was how Louie’s bomber, “Super Man” was able to survive being shot by Japanese anti aircraft

By making the main characters in the movie female it was able to show that you do not have to be a man to go on a journey of self-change and growth. The movie was also able to really show the path of the hero’s journey through the entirety of the movie. Through the use of two main characters the viewer could see the impact of mirroring actions by Amber and Lisa and how it affected the journey. If the movie was only shoot through the perspective of Lisa, the viewer would know more about Lisa but would not have seen the impact of her onto Amber by the end of the movie. What makes this an interesting journey of a person is how it unfolds. When first watching the viewer would think that the journey is of Lisa growing out of her shell but the real journey is of Amber to become a caring

One day in the Sacramento Valley in 1848, there was a group of guys working in the mine as they do every day on this bright cold January day. Billy and all of his friends of 25 years had been working in the mines to hopefully retire earlier than their peers who also have been working for about the same amount. They worked days and nights and in their free time they always spent time with their wives and each other as they were best friends. As they continued to work, there had been talk about finding gold in the rivers around Sacramento Valley. They didn’t know if it was true, but that didn’t stop them from looking. As the days starting getting a little warmer they still had no hope of the mysterious rumors spreading rapidly. Until

Initially, Marina is determined to remain aloof towards her peers. “Some of them tried a bit... But I gave my famous impression of a cockroach and that put them off.” However, this idea is contrasted as she begins to build relationships and makes effort to forge friendships, particularly with Cathy and Lisa. “I hope you have a Happy Birthday and I wish you love.” Marina characterises Lisa as a “cold, Scandinavian, marble mountain”. This further contributes to Marina’s shock as she discovers Lisa crying. “People have cried in the dorm before... But never Lisa.” Marina expresses her urge to comfort Lisa, though she is unable to. “One day, I’ll tell her how terrible I felt... I couldn’t do anything about it.” This event changes

For Isabel it is how she is traveling with a friend, his parents and both of her parents. Josef is however only traveling with his younger sister and after being forced to leave his father in the Cuban hospital is now only traveling with his mom and sister. Josef also never became friends with anyone on the ship and there was no one who was the same age as him so he has near no chance to have anyone to talk to or befriend. One last difference between them is where they are coming from and going to. Isabel is coming from Cuba and is traveling to Miami without stopping anywhere but accidentally stops in the Bahamas.

In the film, each girl has their own battle they are trying to fight whether its Carmen trying to make amends with her father or Lena trying to find herself in Oia, Greece. Eventually each character overcomes their fears allowing them to

During the novel ‘So Much to Tell You’ the protagonist, Marina faced different challenges and that impacted the way she thought and acted throughout the book. The main questions that will be addressed in this essay are ‘which experiences have the most impact on your novel’s protagonist?’ and ‘how do those experiences change their actions and change how they see their world?’ Throughout the novel Marina grows in confidence, at first, Marina was scared and is described as ‘the freak of Warrington’ as well as the ‘nut-case’ and the ‘silent freak’ (pg. 2.)

The film is well written, leaving nice little subtleties in the dialogue that allows the viewer to form their own analysis of Minori and her struggle to find her own identity.

Growing up in the South and living life by working every day outside, and growing crops