Paige Birch: Desperate To Keep The Only Family

She sometimes thought John would no longer recognize her; it had been so long that "he would be a child beside her if she saw him now" (3). She doubts herself; she doesn't think John would recognize her but reassures herself that his love and understanding would require no explanations of her. This pride she derives from John and her children makes her "jiltings" seem more like a blessing: "It made her feel like rolling up her sleeves and putting the whole place to rights again" (3). There were still so many things she could do for her children; she didn't want to be taken yet: "that would have to wait. That was for tomorrow" (3). She was telling death, "tomorrow" not today.

The quote itself is referring to the loss in Lily’s life, which has come in many forms. The biggest loss in her life is the loss of her mother. A girl’s mother is one of the most important people in her life. She is the role model who teaches her many important things she must know in life. Lily misses her mother most during the monumental moments of her life.

to lose her grip on her past. Ivy Rowe, in Lee Smith's Fair and Tender

When a parent dies, any child will cling to the other parent for emotional support and comfort for dealing with such a loss. In Lily’s case, she wanted her fathers support more than anything but he was cold, abusive, and stuck in the past, that he wasn’t able to give her anything except for take his anger out on her, when she disobeyed him. Although if someone does not get that support from the other parent, and if someone else is there that is understanding and kind, its amazing to see how much you can start to really rely on them and grow a close relationship. When Lily deals with the loss of her mother and the poor treatment of her father, she doesn’t know what to do with herself, she has a load of all different kind of emotions, and it really harms her well-being. Lily deals with guilt because she has visuals that she was the one that killed her mother, and on top of that she has her father telling her that her mother left her and she just abandoned her, making Lily feel unimportant and then at the same time guilt. Rosaleen is the closest role model that Lily has for a mother, Rosaleen cares and sticks up for Lily but Lily doesn’t really have the mother-daughter connection with her. Although Rosaleen provides comfort for Lily, she helps her with her father and in return Lily defends Rosaleen as well as save her life from the hospital after she got beaten.

Tess woke up in the middle of the night with Ivy not there.Tess walked down the spiral staircase and saw a sliver of light coming from Ivy’s office. Tess walked in and saw pictures of the men that were killed and a picture of her father, the one that died before she could meet him.Ivy explained why she had the pictures of these men hanging in her office and Tess was astonished. “I left you there, and it broke me. It shattered me, and I didn't know how to go back.” Family will always do what's best for

She starts thinking of her life with Kyle and finally sees the true picture. Kyle may have loved her, but the initial reason he showed interest in her was because she looked like one of the victims and he saw her as a way to keep the memory of the other girl alive. The text says, “The way Kyle used to stare at her before they started dating . . . it must have been like seeing a ghost . . . she wandered if her really loved her at all or if his devotion was just part of his deep desire for forgiveness” (Walter 94).

3. Page #______ Why is a woman brought back to her kinsmen to be buried?

Violet Markey has lost her older sister (and best friend) in a fatal car crash on an icy bridge. She is overwhelmed by guilt, as she was the one who begged her sister to take her home, and told her to take the shortcut, ultimately leading to Eleanor’s death. When this happens, she loses friends and is afraid to make any, afraid she will lose them too. After losing Mitch, I also lost my Nana and Papa (grandmother and grandfather). My cousin, Dimity had bowel cancer and although she is alive and well now, it is still scary to think how close we were to losing her. This made me realize, unlike other people my age, how close death is in our everyday lives, and, unlike cartoon character, we cannot peel ourselves from the rubble and complete our quest or journey. Losing some of the major people in my life has, just like Violet, made me scared to let go of people and even more scared of letting them into my heart. However, just like with Violet, her friends help her world to grow.

The opening paragraph of the story describes how peaceful the dead woman looked in her bed before her children could say the final goodbye to their loving mother. Her facial features looked calm, and her long white hair was carefully arranged as though she wanted to leave this world as beautiful and blameless as her life was. At the beginning of the story her character was introduced as a "sweet soul that lived in that body," who managed to raise two successful children alone by "arming them with a strict moral code, teaching them religion, without weakness, and duty, without compromise."

These disturbing pasts rear their ugly heads when in her panic at the past catching up with her, Sethe kills her eldest child and attempts to do the same with the other three. She is unable to escape the past she ran from through mere physical distance. “‘I stopped him,’ she said, staring at the place where the fence used to be, ‘I took my babies and put them where they’d be safe’” (Morrison 164). Sethe is talking about murdering her children to put them beyond the reach of slavery. As Paul D puts it a few lines later, “This here Sethe talked about safety with a handsaw” (Morrison 164). Sethe describes a feeling of “hummingbirds” pecking at her head and then a calm understanding of what to do to put her children forever out of reach of the horrors of her dark past, which she still carries around in her head (Morrison 163, 262). These were so awful that the only escape she can imagine is permanent--death. This past haunts her in much the same way Beloved haunts her

Still unsettled with pain and sorrow, Rydie shouted, “Why can’t you take them? She is your mother remember!” Growing up, Rydie spent a lot of time with her Grandmother. Each day, they became closer and closer. Going to Grandmother’s grave, only reminded her of the many memories they had, which deterred her from visiting the cemetery several times.

She had lost the single most important part of her life, her family. She continually talks about how she was thrown into many different relatives homes, most of them never really caring about her. She had grown up to be a scarred and unpleasant person to be around, because she never had a family. Another important example of how significant family is in the book is when Krissi Cates family turned on her. “No one ever forgives me for anything” (Flynn 217).

Paige how did it come to this. Sitting alone in a dark room wondering when the power in the house will come back on. Could it be I forget to pay the electric bill; that’s a silly thought being that I’ am so anal. No lights just alone in utter darkness lost in her thoughts of what could have been. It was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop in the room. Her parents gone away to their summer house in Maine enjoying life and their retirement. Sisters’ off working and taking care of families. All her friends left off to college and becoming successful in their professions. Here I have been left alone in the dust because I was so spoiled being the youngest of five.

And so does her body, which is laid in her grave. The father now asks the heavy and dark earth in the last line that it should cover her body very gentle and with this picture we get an even sadder ending.

By looking at things in a different light, people are able to come out of the denial and see the experience for what it really was. This allows them to reclaim what was lost. After she explores the wreck, she “find[s] her way back to this scene carrying a knife, a camera, a book of myths in which our names do not appear” (89-94). She has freed herself with the knife blade, captured some things permanently with the camera and carries the book of myths which no longer has her name. People can free themselves after they have a record of the truth. Once this occurs, they have worked past the denial and the false memories they have created and are no longer a part of it as symbolized by the absence of names in the book of myths. This strong image of the exploration of the wreck show how by looking at an experience again, one can uncover the full truth and retrieve some of the good that was lost.