A Solitary Blue Lydia Voigt Setting

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I recently read A Solitary Blue by Cynthia Voigt which features a major conflict between the main character Jeff Greene and his mother Melody. Melody left a seven and a half year old Jeff with the Professor so she could go off and help the “people who need me [Melody], little boys like you [Jeff]...”(4) and all she ended up doing was going off to live with her grandmother in Charleston, South Carolina. During the time that she was living with her grandmother Jeff had been living with his “reserved, undemonstrative father…”(7) who only ever asked him for “dinner on the table” (6) and passing grades on Jeff’s report cards. It was a lonely childhood. There were many events which caused the quarrel . The main one being the fact that Melody left Jeff and the Professor. Although she did so in an effort to try and help others, the fact remains that she never did do any of the things she left to do. Instead she left to Charleston and started dating a man who “...[doesn’t] know why anybody has kids in this world.”(90). The man who she started dating after she left also added to the main conflict. …show more content…

It forced him to grow up and confront the fact that his mother isn’t perfect and it made the text mean so much more. She made him feel “so angry, he felt he was shaking…”(118). After his argument with her he felt as though “... all the little pieces of himself he [Jeff] had so carefully put together had broken and were rattling around inside of him.”(118). And because of that pain he closed the door with his mother and was finally able to open a door with his father. The dispute that was in the book managed to make the text that mean more because it added some humanity to the characters. With Jeff and Melody’s fights it allowed you to relate them to fights you’ve had with your parents or in some cases with your kids. I don’t think the story would be the same without

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