Quotes By Julia Alvarez: Chapter Summary

The mood of the speaker changes to guilt as the speaker and her mother realize they would "crawl" with "shame" and leave an "emptiness" in their father's heart and yard. The author negatively connotes "crawl," "shame," and "emptiness" to invoke a more serious and shameful tone. The beginning of the conveyed a more matter-of-fact and pragmatic tone, but changes into a more sentimental one by the end to convey family is more important than the money. The symbol of the tree represents the family, and connects it to their father's hard work and dedication to the family. If they were to cut it down, it would be symbolic of their betrayal. Imagery of the tree is used to describe the freedom and beauty of the tree as it "swings through another year of sun and leaping winds, of leaves and bounding fruit." The tree represents their family bond and how strong it is even through the "whip-crack of the mortgage."

Viramontes uses the repetition of a question to characterize Estrella’s struggle to acquire the knowledge she seeks at the beginning of the text. Immediately, Estrella wonders, “So what is this?” when she finds Perfecto’s tools in his tool chest and again when she fails to decipher the alphabet on the chalkboard. The repetition of this inquiry not only represents Estrella’s confusion with the function and purpose of tools and letters, but her curiosity and persistency to gain a deep understanding of the “confusing and foreign” knowledge of tools and letters that only she seems to lack. Furthermore, since she is specifically wondering about both tools and letters, the two are compared to each other and form a connection that is fleshed out later in the passage. Estrella constantly seeks after the “secret” behind the power of tools and words even if she is “silent with rage” at the fact that the adults in her life keep it hidden from her. Even though she is quite eager to learn, her teachers don’t jump at the opportunity to expand her knowledge or equip her with the essential tools to progress in life since they are more concerned with her migrant status and dirty appearance. The “secret” that words are the tools for success which remains hidden from Estrella, causes her to remain confused and hostile at the beginning of the text.

Mama Elena killing herself, consequently because she could not trust anyone, was an action that I did not anticipate whatsoever. I would foresee either Tita or Pedro, maybe even Chencha killing her but definitely not herself. Although if Tita wanted her dead, she would have poisoned her by now. Tita was always a cook of the house, so she had many opportunities to poison Mama Elena but she didn't. Same goes for Chencha and Pedro, they have had plenty of opportunities to murder Mama Elena. If she was a considerate and caring person everyone's life would've been a lot more pleasant and enjoyable. She should have been more willing to let Tita marry Pedro, seeing as she knows the pain of not being with ones true love. Unfortunately, she lost her

I read a novel “Esperanza Rising” by Pam Munoz Ryan it is a story of a young girl. Esperanza was a rich girl at the time she was in Mexico and she became a labor worker on a farm in San Francisco, California. In this book I read all the stories there are a different kind of Mexican proverbs throughout the stories which reflect the way they are, and real meanings of the story. In this story they used three Mexican proverbs that reflects their story such as “He who falls today may rise tomorrow” “The rich person is richer when he becomes poor, than the poor person when he becomes rich’’ Wait a little while and the fruit will fall into your hand’’

The character Madame Defarge plays a role as one of the leading villains in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, whose actions turn out to be one of the major causes of the French Revolution in the book. The main influence of Madame Defarge's hatred is fueled by a self-centered issue that was germinated by another family who happens to be aristocratic. In Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, Madame Defarge is justified in her hatred against the St. Evremonde family because her sister was raped and her brother was killed by the two patriarchs.

The tree is the symbol for the cultures of Vietnam who were mistreated in the war and that’s what this tree represents in the book. When it says that the tree trunks “resemble those men, the giants of your childhood... (that you) encounter (all those) old years later… smaller, shrunken by age, giants have become pygmies while you were looking away.” This shows that the tree was once a proud symbol of strength and now

Melinda Sordino, the character in the novel Speak, written by Laurie Halse Anderson. She is an outcast, coward, and a negative person. Melinda Sordino is an outcast. '' Or I could crawl behind the trash can. Or maybe I could dump my lunch straight into the trash and keep moving right on out the door '' (Anderson 8). This quotation clearly demonstrates that Melinda is an outcast. She cannot even think a person she could sit. On the first day, Melinda gets into the auditorium and everyone divides into their clans. She used to be a part of the Plain Janes but now she labelled herself an outcast, she is clanless. Melinda does not see the point in finding her ex-friends. She knows it is not going to work. The only student talks to her as a friend is Heather, new to here, but she

“Will” is a teenage targeted, coming of age novel written by the well renowned Australian author “Maria Boyd”. The text follows the story of a 17-year-old teenage boy named Will who faces a barrage of problems as a result of his actions. After having been caught pulling down his undergarments in front of a group of Lakeside girls, Will is punished by the schools’ deputy principle, Mr Waverton. The punishment being, confinement to the school musical for 3 whole months, in which Will’s character undergoes a large change. As a result of this, the setting used in “the punishment” slowly matures to be one of the main settings present in the text. Specifically, the musical itself had been portrayed in such a delicate manner, that it created a different context to its original definition, it symbolising the redemption that Will strives to achieve throughout the entirety of the 3-month period.

Sue Monk Kidd has introduced very complex, yet simple characters that can be easily related to by many readers of the novel. Rosaleen has a tough exterior, but truly cares for Lily Owens, as T.Ray Owens is unpleasant, and considered to be abusive toward Lily. Further on, we have Zachary Taylor, a handsome, charismatic football player while working for August in her honey house develops feelings for Lily, as there’s June Boatright with a heart of gold, yet is distrusting in regards to Lily at first. These character are just a few of the many that entail the plot, and make them relatable. Although, like I said Sue Monk Kidd has developed many character that we can relate to, I believe I relate to Lily Owens the most in “The Secret Life of Bees.”

It was “on the third day of rain” that the Pelayo family found “a very old man, lying face down in the mud…impeded by his enormous wings” (1). By stating in the first line that it had rained for three days, the significance of the rain is exemplified. Being a symbol of rejuvenation and rebirth, the old man can be seen as being reborn on this day. This imagery is further reinforced by the fact that Jesus also was reborn from the dead after three days. Being found in mud also correlates to how Jesus was born among commoners. Many people come to witness the flesh and blood angel. However, the “consolation miracles” performed by the angel were said to show his “certain mental disorder” (4). This again parallels the way God performs strange works. Like Christ, the old man’s apparent disillusion discredited him. All these similarities to Christ give the old man a particular significance.

In the novel, Speak by Laurie Anderson, A Tree is a symbolism that represents Melinda's current moods and thoughts throughout the scenarios in the story. The main character traits of this story are Melinda's thoughts, emotions, and reactions to high school and within the people in it.

“Many people coincided that it was a radiant morning with a sea breeze coming in through the banana grove, as was to be expected in February of that period. But most agreed that the weather was funereal, with a cloudy, low sky and the thick smell of still waters, and that at the moment of the misfortunes a thin drizzle was falling like the one Santiago Nasar had seen in his dream grove” (Marquez 4).

Moreover, this drawing of the tree is representative of the mind growth of Melinda. For instance, the drawing was poorly drawn at the beginning of the book, Melinda’s pressure and her life were weighing her down. As the drawing got better throughout the school year, Melinda’s strength and mindset also began to get better as well. If the tree meant “to shelter”, then Melinda sure developed a very nice shelter for herself in the end.

There will be periods in your life where someone will say something or do something to make you feel bad. But in those cases sometimes who ever said that to you or did it to you that will stick with you for the rest of your life. Because you take things to heart and it sinks and sinks every time you think about it which makes you work harder at whatever you do. But one quote I won’t ever forget is one that Maya Angelou wrote “I’ve learned that people will forget what you do, what you said but they won’t ever forget how you make them feel”. Another awesome quote that I like is by Ray Lewis “Don’t Be Afraid to Be Great” So although people try to down you and hurt you always remember to be great at whatever you do.

This first quote to me means that whatever God had made “crooked” should not be change, because he created it that way. And the second quote believes that we should try and change the nature of all things around us as much possible. I agree with the first one, I believe everyone is born the way there are born for a reason and us humans shouldn’t try and change that. There isn’t really a reason why I think the first quote is more correct other than, that is the way I was raised and that is what meet my moral values. The main connection is that in GATTACA humans are able to change an unborn child’s DNA and make what they called, “perfect babies” and those who the parents leave for chance would sometimes not be as “perfect”