“Mom, why do the best people die? My son, when you are in a garden, which flowers do you pick? The most beautiful ones.” This quote is unforgettable to me. It is so powerful in its meaning and wholeheartedness. Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira is an extended version of this quote. The main character, Laurel, had such a major influence on me because she went through so many unimaginable things. She can be metaphorically compared to both the son and the mother in this quote. The son because she has so many questions that no one can answer. The mother because throughout the book Laurel’s life hits her in the face with all the answers to her questions, like why the best people die young. She overcame several tragedies that many will never …show more content…
Laurel has to write a letter to a dead person. She chooses Kurt Cobain because of her sister May, who is also dead, loved him. What once was a simple assignment turned into an entire notebook. Laurel informs Kurt and other famous people like Janis Joplin about her daily occurrences. Things like making new friendships that she never thought would exist, finding her first love and heartbreak and experiencing the transition from middle school to high school without the help of her big sister. She also talked about her family 's smaller tragedies within the larger one. Her parents got divorced, and her mother moved all the way across the country. When she first wrote about it, I believed that she shouldn’t forgive her mother for leaving her and her father, but throughout the book, I realized that death affects people in so many different …show more content…
Except Laurel defied my assumptions and overcame the pain. Although no one enjoys talking about it, tragedies like that happen more than anyone would like to admit. Depending on how some people are raised and their emotional stability, they just wouldn’t be able to handle all of the pain and self-blame with witnessing a sibling fall to their deaths. Laurel has taught me to continue being optimistic through life 's obstacles. I read the book shortly after I got diagnosed with scoliosis. The doctor had told me that I was lucky that I was still growing and had me wear a brace that was supposed to straighten out my spine. This was supposed to prevent me from needing surgery. The back brace was extremely uncomfortable and didn’t help at all. So my scoliosis got progressively worse. I was just on the verge of needing surgery, when my family found a scoliosis boot camp. I went to that for two weeks straight. It was hard, but I made it through. The real challenge was having the motivation to do the hour of exercises the doctor prescribed to do at home every single day with weights and blocks. I had no motivation, I was beginning to look at everything negatively, and I was in a lot of pain. But then I found Love Letters to the Dead. Reading this helped me understand that these exercises were leaving a positive outlook on my future, when the only thing I was losing was an hour a
Upon reading the premise of this novel, I knew I had to read it. People often say that death can bring a family together; and in my family, it did. Nevertheless, death and grief can also bring about entropy within a family or relationships, as is seen here in The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler. I tend to cry more often than not, this novel was without exception. I am moved by the story and how quickly I was attached to the each of the characters. Due to situational irony, I felt sympathetic towards the characters; at other times, I saw perfect examples of how family therapy would be a great intervention to the dysfunctional system that was
... loss of loved ones like Junior in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and Andi in Revolution or faced your own inevitable passing like Hazel Grace in The Fault in Our Stars, you are not alone. In confronting and facing death, these characters learn that death is merely a small part of living. It is an element of the human experience. To return to the wise words of the late Steve Jobs, “Almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important…There is no reason not to follow your heart.” Living is the adventure. In facing their fears and sadness, these characters learn how to be courageous, how to hope, how to love, and how to live. Join them on their journeys by checking out one of the spotlighted books at your local library.
The critics who perceived this book's central theme to be teen-age angst miss the deep underlying theme of grief and bereavement. Ambrosio asks the question, "Is silence for a writer tantamount to suicide? Why does the wr...
I always looked at death as such a sad thing that is eventually going to occur to everyone. However, after reading this book, it made me realize death can actually be a beautiful thing. Death allows a person to go to a next life, one where they will be loved and others will be there for them. It was interesting to be able to read about stories that these hospice care workers witnessed themselves. I have experienced a few deaths within my life and I never coped with them very well. After reading this book, I honestly believe I will be able to look at the positive side of death and be able to deal with my emotions better. I can also help others surrounding me deal with a death that they are experiencing. This book was filled with information that I loved learning. For example, I never knew that a dying person can choose a time to die. The thought of this never occurred to me before. I always thought that when it was someone’s time to go, they had no choice. But, a dying person can “put off” passing on until they see a certain person or event that has great significance in their life. Nevertheless, there are still people who will wait to die until they’re all alone in the room. This book makes you think of real life situations and think what you would do in them. Taken as a whole, it was a very in depth book that changes the way you would naturally perceive
There’s not a women more important than a mom. From her you can learn lots of things or just an entire life. Ellen Bryant Voigt, a writer and a teacher, gets inspired mostly in nature, family, and music(PF). So “lesson” wasn 't an exception, it focused more in motherhood. Published in ellen’s book “shadow of heaven”. It is a narrative, but also a conversation poem. It shows a conversation between a mom and his/her son/daughter, but also some narrative, specially at the last stanza. This is a powerful poem, it brings a bittersweet feeling after you read it, probably more bitter than sweet. It first stars with a touchable feeling that it 's going to be a daily lesson from your mom, but then it turns out into a life lesson. It combines moms social life in the beginning by telling she was a teacher just ellen is and then in the second stanza her personal life by describing her cancer that caused her breast being taken away. The end is something to love because it shows all a mom or anyone can ask for and that is, support from your loved ones under any circumstances. A mom can teach many
Through “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “I am Vertical”, the works of Mark Twain and Sylvia Plath reveal that the concept of death is something that will overcome people with grief but, you will find light at the end of tunnel by using their diction and syntax to convey their message.
“Linda was nine then, as I was, but we were in love. And, it was real. When I write about her now, three decades later, it’s tempting to dismiss it as a crush, an infatuation of childhood, but I know for a fact that what we felt for each other was as deep and rich as love can ever get.”( p.216 ) This passage describe the innermost relationship between life and death. The living Dead has a larger purpose than just explaining what it is like to be in a war. Linda was died at the age of 9 by suffering brain tumor. She gives O'brien a reason to write stories, to internalize her dead. O’Brien figure out that even if someone died, you can still make them alive by telling their stories. Linda is O’Brien’s example that storytelling is the healing process of pain, confusion, and sadness that comes with unexpected death. After she dies, he uses his imagination to bring her back to life, and he also believes that the death can still be alive through literature. The death of Linda portrays how soldiers can deal with death in Vietnam even they encounter so many people dying in the
Memories never die and stories live on forever. Foer takes us through a journey of tragedy and healing through the eyes of three individuals to teach us all a lesson on how people truly deal with loss. In this novel, it all boils down to how they let it define them and when they are able to embrace it. They truly will “Never Forget” as their stories live on in their writing and impact the lives of others. Everyone experiences death and loss at some point. Foer shows people everywhere to embrace it and accept it into their lives. Let the legacy of loved ones live on. One of the biggest challenges in life is to journey through grief and to heal. Whether you let it consume you, hide it, or embrace it, it is and always will be, a fact of life.
Death in a family seizes control over the emotional and physical health of the surviving family. Facing death is difficult, but it cannot be ignored. The trauma may be an opportunity to grow from the experience, if it is talked about and discussed and worked through with the support of others; or it may throw a family off course, misdirecting their actions or leaving them altogether emotionally stagnant. Two families confront death differently in William Faulkner’s “A Rose For Emily,” in which a well-respected woman degenerates into a reclusive spinster after the death of her father, and in Brady Udall’s “The Wig,” a flash-fiction story about a son who wears a discarded wig that resembles the hair of his dead mother. These two stories offer very different portraits of families who try to recover after the death of a parent -- in Udall’s story, the mom; and in Faulkner’s, the father -- yet each story, through imagery, metaphor, symbolism, and their climaxes, comment similarly on the importance of communication after a devastating loss such as death.
There is a certain feeling a person gets when they are awaiting a letter in the mail from someone they love. Written words from one heart to another rarely happen anymore as it once was the only way. Now the more happy faces you can fit in the text message measure the feeling you have for a person. In 1527 King Henry VIII wrote Anne Boleyn a love letter telling her how deeply he wanted her affection. Back then there was no texting the only way to get your feelings out was to write a love letter. Technology has killed the love letter, yes people text beautiful words to each other but most are accompanied by a cheesy emoticon or abbreviations. The effort a person has to take in order to composite and send a letter is greater than it is now to send a quick text.
After, she passed, life seemed darker for awhile. Perhaps, losing loved ones, are physical and mental blows, that I can’t seem to get away from. I would cry for days with wondering thoughts on how I could have saved them. As family and friends disappeared whether by death or just lack of communications in friendships, it had negatively affected me, wondering when will the last day be. However, as I begun to face the realities of life, I am learning that you enjoy life today and focus on whatever comes when it comes.
“Although tragedy and loss are regrettable commonplace, we aren’t measured by what happens to us but rather by how we respond to it” written by Steve Pemberton in A Chance in the World. This is my favorite quote from the novel. A Chance in the World was an eye opening book for me to read, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Many things stood out to me in the book, one being that each chapter would start with a quote from a different book, and that related back to how much books saved his life. Another thing that stood out to me was how throughout the chapter he would ask himself questions, and those questions were never answered but it was like he was sharing his thoughts with reader. The reason these book was eye opening was because my father, gave up his parental rights at age five because of drugs, and even though our situations are only slightly similar hearing his story and how he overcame all his struggles made me realize how I can get over my own problems with the past. The novel was a tear jerker from reading how the Robinsons abused him, how he first struggled with college and how each side of his family had so much pain and sorrow. Steve Pemberton overcame every
I’ve always been numb to death, never experienced the emotion that is grief. When my grandfather died I was too young to care, too little to understand. The day that one of our closest family friends died a few months ago, I didn’t even shed a tear. It isn’t the death that hurts, it’s the fact that I can’t seem to remember them. I’ll never be able to recall my grandfather’s voice as he read to me on the old, leather recliner he loved so much. Not remember all of the names of Jolene’s flowers in the garden we spent days working on. I can’t remember, and the recollections will continue to fade until I reach the point where their faces become blurry, and the only thing left of them is a name of someone I used to care for. The death of my dog Cade wasn't the most ground-shaking, heart-shattering moment, but the things I've learned from it are immeasurable.
The loss of a loved one is an emotional and personal experience, and everyone grieves in their own way. Before the healing process can begin, the deceased must be laid to rest and this is usually accomplished with a funeral service. Many people choose a piece to be read at these ceremonies, such as W.H. Auden’s “Funeral Blues” and Mary Elizabeth Frye’s “Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep.” It is quite thought-provoking to compare the poems, since the subject matter is the same, however each of these works views death from a different perspective, one negative and the other positive.
Although, I find the ending somewhat predictable, I would use Gordimer’s short story, “A Beneficiary,” to highlight how the author uses figurative language and rhetorical devices to develop characterization. Not only did I enjoy examining the protagonist’s journey to enlightenment, I also appreciated studying how Gordimer utilizes certain figures and strategic devices to bring the deceased mother to life. For instance, Charlotte notes that her mother, Laila “had baptized herself professionally” as an actress since she lied about her age, her name, and her marriage (568), suggesting that she worshipped the superficial and the artificial just like her career. This concept is reinforced as Charlotte and her friends clean out Laila’s apartment and one her carries on about “the