preview

My Life Began Theme

Decent Essays

What would life be without the people who love you surrounding you at the greatest moments in life? What would life be with only one chance to make everything perfect? In the novel The Summer My Life Began written by Shannon Greenland, we find many themes within the depth of the covers. However, two in particular stand out to me, they are, everyone deserves a second chance and family is forever. In this book, Elizabeth Margaret--better known as Em--, the protagonist, pretty much has her life planned out ahead of her by her strict, serious parents. That is until she gets the chance to visit her Aunt Tilly, who has been hidden from her all her life, for the summer. When she takes up this offer, she learns a lot about herself and her family. And …show more content…

Everyone deserves someone to love and care for. This is why it is important to keep family close because family is forever. We can clearly see the theme family is forever throughout the novel, and especially on page 12 when it says, “ ‘No she does not want to visit her aunt for the summer,’ my mom answer for me. ‘She has an internship at the firm.’” We can see this theme displayed, because Em’s mom answers for her, which proves that she doesn’t trust her decisions, and just assumes what she really wants to do. If she were to let Em answer the question, we would see a little more respect for Em, and we would see how they are a good trusting family. However, Em’s mom doesn’t seem to understand how important family is, and how they are forever, and this is why Em and her sister aren’t very close to the rest of the family. Also, we can pick out this theme again on page 217 when it reads, “She hugged me snug against her as if she hadn’t been hugged in years. It was hard to believe that as of yesterday I had been lied to all of my life, my aunt was my mother and my mother was my aunt. ‘I’m sorry,’ I started, ‘for being so immature yesterday, I know how hard telling me must have been.’ ” We can see the family is forever theme clearly weaved in these words because after Em finds out that her Aunt Tilly is actually her mother, she gets away from everything for a day or two. However, when Em comes back and reunites …show more content…

These themes weave perfectly into the plot and complement the character traits. As the book goes on, we see how second chances impact the relationships the characters have with each other, and with family is forever, we see how important it is to care for others. These themes are very important life messages that I will live by for the rest of my life, and I will feel satisfied when I take the themes right to the

Get Access