A game, that is all that life is. In the book, The Lovely Bones, each family member has a certain game piece to play with in their game Monopoly. Susie’s game piece was the Monopoly shoe. The Monopoly shoe represents how Susie walked out of life early. The Monopoly shoe helped explain a lot of things for the Salmon family. The shoe helped Buckley understand that Susie was no longer living, the shoe helped Jack realize that he needed to let go of Susie, and the shoe helped Susie realize that she needed to stop wanting the living to be with her in heaven.
Although, Buckley was never told what happened to Susie, except for the fact that she died tragically. No one bothered to explain to him what had happened. Buckley is only four years old and does not understand that Susie is dead, so Mr. Salmon has to simplify her death. Mr. Salmon explains that Susie is dead by using Susie’s favorite monopoly piece. “‘See this shoe?’ my father said... “Susie?” my brother asked, somehow connecting the two. ‘Yes, I’m going to tell you where Susie is’” (Sebold, 2002, p. 45). He takes Susie’s piece from the Monopoly board, by doing so Jack demonstrates that Susie is out of the game of life. Buckley only understands that Susie is not coming back. He does not understand where she
…show more content…
went though. Buckley keeps up with the Monopoly piece up until he is 12 years old. After about eight years Buckley was walking outside with a box of old clothes, Susie’s clothes. Buckley wanted to use them to stake his new tomato plants. Before he had finished, he was stopped by Mr. Salmon, who asked what he thought he was doing. Buckley asked what was wrong with using her clothes. Mr. Salmon did not answer, “[Mr. Salmon] stepped closer, took the dress from my brother, and then, without speaking, he gathered the rest of my clothes, which Buckley had piled on the lawn ” (Sebold, 2002, p. 165). This made all of Buckley’s feelings that he had held in for the past eight years escape like air from a balloon. After Buckley finished pouring out all of his feelings they made Jack think, he had never stopped his own grief he felt from losing Susie and see that his living son was in pain as well. His father froze, as Buckley asked why he could not use them. Jack wonders how Buckley could ask him something like that. Buckley keeps going, “‘You took the shoe, didn’t you?’ my brother said. He had stopped crying now” (Sebold, 2002, p.166). Mr. Salmon does not respond to his youngest child’s question. Instead, he fell to his knees and finally understood what Buckley was saying, he had to choose between his living son or his dead daughter. Then all at once, Mr. Salmon fell to the ground. While Mr.
Salmon was in the hospital, Susie felt so close to no longer feeling alone. Susie starts to compare her and Buckley’s situations. She tries to decide who needs Jack more. While she compares, she thinks, “My father had only missed nighttimes twice in Buckley’s life. Once after he had gone into the cornfield at night looking for Mr. Harvey and now as he lay in the hospital and they monitored him in case of a second heart attack” (Sebold, 2002, p. 259). Buckley pleads Susie to let Mr. Salmon stay because Buckley needs him. Mr. Salmon is what is keeping Buckley going. The monopoly shoe game piece is what initially caused Susie to realize that Susie was coming between Buckley and her
father.
In the Lilies of the Field by William E. Barrett, Homer and Mother Maria both display straightforward, hardworking, and stubborn character traits. Firstly, Homer and Mother Maria both display a straightforward personality by being brutally honest about their opinions. For example, when Mother Maria asks Homer to build a chapel, Homer speaks his mind by telling her he does not want to build it. Mother Maria shows her straightforward behavior during Homer’s stay at the convent. One morning, when Homer sleeps in late, Mother to becomes extremely upset and is not afraid to show how she feels about him. Secondly, both Homer and Mother Maria display a hardworking spirit. Homer is a hardworking man because after finally agreeing to build the chapel,
All the Pretty Horses involves many interesting characters in its story. Most of the characters are believable in this story. Many are flat and static with a few being round and dynamic. The characters are complex, with their own histories and personalities driving their actions. There are many minor characters in the story that do not really have any purpose than helping to move the plot along. There aren’t many characters with considerable roles. The protagonist is John Grady Cole and the antagonists are the captain, Jimmy Blevins, and Alejandra’s aunt. The main character is John Grady Cole, a round and dynamic character. He is revealed in the beginning of the story. He is a 16 year old boy and can be described as quiet, serious,
According to the text, “Boy Willie is thirty years old. He has an infectious grin and a boyishness that is apt for his name. He is brash and impulsive, talkative and somewhat crude in speech and manner”. This was shown when he argues with his sister, Berniece, constantly. She had a great deal of sentimental value within that piano, but Boy Willie was very tenacious about selling it despite his sister’s wishes. He got himself into a quite a situation, and it isn’t until the very end that it was resolved. Sutter’s ghost begins to start attacking Boy Willie after he tries to take the piano out of the house. The ghost doesn’t subside until Berniece plays the piano and calls the spirits of their family to rid of Sutter’s ghost. After all, this symbolizes the true value of the piano and their ancestry.
“The Lovely Bones” is a book written by Alice Sebold. It was published in 2002, and it’s about Susie Salmon, a girl that was murdered and no watches her family and murderer from her own heaven. She tries to balance her feeling and watch out for her family since her murderer is still free and with nobody knowing how dangerous he is. In 2009, a movie adapted from the book came out as well.
There are multiple reasons why a book can be banned or challenged. Book banning causes the removal of materials in schools and libraries due to “inappropriate” content. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold, was banned due to sexual content and language.
...in her character during her stay at the hospital. Susie realizes that her patient is afraid of dying and thus she comforts her as she weeps and makes her feel loved.
Photographs capture the essence of a moment because the truth shown in an image cannot be questioned. In her novel, The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold uses the language of rhetoric to liberate Abigail from the façade of being a mother and spouse in a picture taken by her daughter, Susie. On the morning of her eleventh birthday, Susie, awake before the rest of the family, discovers her unwrapped birthday present, an instamatic camera, and finds her mother alone in the backyard. The significance of this scene is that it starts the author’s challenge of the false utopia of suburbia in the novel, particularly, the role of women in it.
The play “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry has many interesting characters. In my opinion, the most fascinating character is Ruth because of her many emotions and captivating personality. She goes through extreme emotions in the play such as happiness, sadness, anger, stress, and confusion. Ruth is very independent, firm, kind, witty, and loving.
One problem Willy has is that he does not take responsibility for his actions; this problem only gets worse because of his lies. Biff looks up to Willy, so when he finds out that Willy has an affair in Boston, Biff is petrified. Biff realizes his hero, dad, the one he wants to impress, is a phony and a liar. Willy destroys Biff's dream of playing football by saying he does not have to study for the math regents, he also Willy telling Bernard to give Biff the answers. When Biff fails the regents, he does not want to retake the test because he is so disgusted with his hero and does not want to succeed. Not only did Willy destroy Biff's dream, he also broke his vows and refused to admit it. Biff is a failure, in Willy's eye, in most part due to Willy and what happened in Boston. Willy refuses to take responsibility for what he did, so he lies about Biff. Willy tells Bernard that Biff has been doing great things out west, but decided to come back home to work on a "big deal". Willy knows that Biff is a bum who has not amounted to anything, but he refuses to take responsibility for what happened in Boston, so he changes the story of Biff's success. Throughout Willy's life he continued to lie. It might have stopped if Linda did not act the way as she did. Linda is afraid to confront Willy, so she goes along with his outlandish lies.
The house itself reflected the plight of Willy Loman, it was in shambles around him. Prosperity in the shape of high-rise apartment buildings had them boxed in, to point where the sun no longer shone in his yard. Willy had worked for 25 years to pay off the mortgage but by the time it was his he no longer needed so much space. Even the refrigerator--that was bought because it was the most advertized-- broke before they could finish paying for it. His relationship with his sons and wife were in even in ruins, just like the material objects around them. Willy’s wife, Linda, realized he had suicidal tendencies and in order to get their son’s to show sympathy she had to remind them he was
Fortunately, Boy Willie sees everything that Berniece has been trying to tell him. He finds out about this when Sutter’s ghost came to the Charles’ house who tried to stop him from taking the piano away and started a big chaos.
Jack Salmon, Susie’s father, is most vocal about his sorrow for losing his daughter. However, his initial reaction was much different. Upon hearing that Susie’s ski hat had been found, he immediately retreats upstairs because “he [is] too devastated to reach out to [Abigail] sitting on the carpet…he could not let [her] see him” (Sebold 32). Jack retreats initially because he did not know what to do or say to console his family and he did not want them to see him upset. This first reaction, although it is small, is the first indicator of the marital problems to come. After recovering from the initial shock, Jack decides that he must bring justice for his daughter’s sake and allows this goal to completely engulf his life. He is both an intuitive and instrumental griever, experiencing outbursts of uncontrolled emotions then channeling that emotion into capturing the killer. He focuses his efforts in such an e...
“The stigma of mental illness, although more often related to context than to a person’s appearance, remains a powerful negative attribute in all social relations” (Byrne 65). It is unclear whether Miller was well versed on the subject of psychology, but in this particular play, his character, Willy, epitomizes someone with a schizophrenic personality. Schizophrenia is characterized by the individual having, “[…] at least one psychotic symptom, such as hallucinations, delusions, and/or disorganized speech. Anxiety, depression, and suicide often co-occur frequently in schizophrenia” (“Schizophrenia” 202). In one scene from the play, Willy is heard talking to himself while in the kitchen and then he experiences a flashback of when his sons, Biff and Happy were younger, which is a sign of a hallucination as seen in individuals with schizophrenia. Willy also suffers from grandiose delusions claiming he was an important businessman and well-liked, “[…] I went north to Providence. Met the Mayor. […] then he had coffee with me” (Miller). One of the pivotal moments in the play comes when Linda, Willy’s wife, reveals to her sons that has been suicidal, “He’s been trying to kill himself. […]The insurance inspector came. He said that they have evidence. That all these accidents in the last year — weren’t — weren’t — accidents” (Miller). Suicidal ideations are another symptom seen in schizophrenics. Willy’s suicide attempts may not have been due to
During the confrontation during the poker game, which immediately ends it, readers are exposed to the reality of Stella and Stanley’s
Morrie Schwartz knew he only had a few months to live after getting diagnosed with ALS. But instead of mourning and drowning in his own self pity, he decided to share his knowledge and experiences that he’s gained throughout his life, and inspire others. The novel Tuesdays with Morrie shows that Morrie Schwartz rejects some of the socially acceptable practices of popular culture. Morrie illustrates his nonconformist approach to living and dying by forgiving, accepting, and loving. On the contrary, Morrie says the popular culture is founded on greed, selfishness, and superficiality.