Symbolism In All I Ever Wanted By Vikki Wakefield

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How is symbolism used in ‘All I Ever Wanted’ to convince readers that appearances can be deceiving?
Lack of knowledge and awareness influences individuals to make irrational judgments of people based on their social economic status, morals or appearance. There is a difference between judgement, opinion and fact; symbolism is an aspect used in this text to correlate ignorance with reality, allowing readers to distinguish between the two concepts through the basis of judgement. In the book All I Ever Wanted written by Vikki Wakefield, the information given by Mim is framed to sound real. We as readers instantly take on her viewpoints as the truth since she is relatable and therefore, appeal to her emotions because we compare ourselves to her …show more content…

Initially it was thought that the package contained drugs, “We do what we do to survive, Mim. Sometimes, there's no getting out.”(Wakefield: pg. 34) we as readers assume that Mim's family are couriers and that they are enforcing her to be part of an offence. Readers instantly depict Mim’s family lifestyle as unjust because it appears as if she is being forced to commit a crime against her will. Readers are also able to infer that Mim’s family have a low social-economic status, therefore, choose to prey on vulnerable people to make a source of income. Another factor that can be established by the package is that Mim shares a broken relationship with her mother; “Mim, you’re nearly seventeen. I got you this far, but now I don’t know what to do. Give me a kid who smokes and drinks. One who can’t keep her legs closed …I know what to do with that kid. You, I don’t know”. (Wakefield: pg. 350) The package turns out to be a ticket for her travel and so the package symbolises hope. Mim assumed that her mother was careless and wanted her to become a ‘deadbeat’ daughter, the reality was that her initial thoughts were far from the truth. Readers are able to understand Mim’s naivety and lack of knowledge, as she bases her judgement on all things serial. This symbolism of hope shows that anything is possible, imagining and believing that …show more content…

At first Mrs’ Tkautz is described as an old, bitter Christian woman that curses Mim, positioning readers to dislike her. However, as the book progresses audience members soon find out that Mrs ‘ Tkautz means no harm, she can be viewed as Mim’s “fairy god mother” as she is guiding Mim to a better lifestyle through her wisdom and past experiences,” god less child” is actually “god bless child.” These books have been loved. You don’t just give away books like these…God bless, child” (Wakefield: 169). The strong relationship between Mrs Tkautz and Mims mother also indicates that she has watched Mim grow and witnessed situations that have left Mim’s mother feeling embittered. Therefore, her wise nature may have influenced Mim’s mother for the better. The action of Mrs Tkautz doing her garden consistently represents her dedication and commitment, she is determined to push Mim to become the best version of herself, so that she does not settle for the generational cycle of crime that she is already pre disposed to. Mrs Tkautz symbolises life as she encourages Mim to persevere with her passion for reading, perseverance equals success, which in turn will subliminally break the generational cycle of survival via immoral

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