Similarities Between 'Gleam And Glow' By Eve Bunting

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Gleam and Glow, written by Eve Bunting was published in 2001. Gleam and Glow is told from the perspective of Viktor, a young boy living with his family in a war-torn country. After his father leaves home to fight in the war, Viktor is left home along with his mother and five-year-old sister, Marina. Viktor’s home soon becomes a shelter for travelers, where the family learned of the horrors of the war and what is to come to Viktor’s home. One day, a traveler comes to Viktor’s home with two goldfish. These goldfish, named Gleam and Glow by Marina, become a positive in a sea of negatives. However, when the day comes that the family must flee from their home, Viktor places the goldfish into the pond near their home. After days of walking, the family …show more content…

In both books, the children have to leave behind items that mean a lot to them. For Mari, she had to leave behind her sunflowers that grew in her backyard; and for Viktor and Marina, they had to leave behind the goldfish. In both books, the families had to leave their homes for reasons beyond their control – a war. Unlike Gleam and Glow, we do not see Mari return to her former home and are left to assume what happens to Mari. On a positive note, both books end with a symbol of hope. A Place Where Sunflowers Grow shows Mari’s sunflowers growing, and Gleam and Glow shows the survival of the goldfish. Both symbols provide hope and indicate that, like the sunflowers and the goldfish, the characters can adapt to their new circumstances.
Gleam and Glow presumably takes place in Bosnia before the Bosnian war. The characters are Viktor, his sister Marina, Mama, and Papa. To me, the goldfish appear to symbolize the strength it took for Viktor, his family, and the other refugees to abandon everything they knew and still make the most of what they had. Just as the refugees adapted to life during and after the war, the goldfish adapted to their new home in the pond. The goldfish are also a symbol of hope. To see that the goldfish had survived gave the family hope (“Like us . . . they …show more content…

However, I can relate to have to leave home because of a bad situation. I can also relate to having to leave behind everything you had ever known and cared about. I once had a dog and a goat when I was younger. When I had to leave, I left them with my aunt. I only got to see my animals when I visited my aunt – which was not very often. I did not get to have a happy ending with my animals like the children did at the end of the book, but I know that I always think of them.
The things that seem the most important to me in the book is the importance behind the story. Gleam and Glow brings to light a story I never would have heard and tells me about a war I never knew about before. I feel as though this book would be a great book to keep in an in-class library. Depending on where I end up teaching, there may be the possibility that I would have students who could see themselves in Gleam and Glow in some

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