In the novel, Walk Two Moons, Salamanca Tree Hiddle, also known as Sal, tells a story of her best friend Phoebe Winterbottom. The novel is narrated by the main character, Sal, who tells a story as her personal story unfolds. The two stories are linked together in a peculiar way using the technique where the frame story leads readers from one story to another. In both stories, the girls face a major emotional journey through hardship and abandonment. Yet at the same time they go through very different struggles. These struggles include issues with grief, anger, and even acceptance of their own fate. Sal longed to visit her mother’s grave for quite some time, but her father refuses to take her. She believes that if she makes it to the grave …show more content…
Winterbottom, leaves her family unexpectedly. Phoebe is worried sick and keeps wondering why her mother would leave such a perfect family. Phoebe finds it hard to believe that her mom would leave her. In her unbelief, she starts to believe her mother is kidnapped. Phoebe wants to file her case to the police right away but her dad forbid her. A couple of days later she couldn’t wait any longer. She goes to the police office without her dad’s knowledge and tells the sergeant her story and her suspicions. While at the police station, she realizes that the sergeant’s son is the potential kidnapper. Phoebe wants to investigate even further. She learns where the lunatic lives and plans to find out what he is doing to her mom. When Phoebe goes to the place where the lunatic lives, she sees the lunatic and her mom laughing and having a good time. Phoebe thought this was crazy and disrespectful. Later on, Phoebe’s family receives a phone call from Mrs. Winterbottom, saying that she is returning in a couple of days. The Winterbottom family goes crazy getting the house ready for her return. When the day came for Mrs. Winterbottom’s return, she doesn’t just bring herself home but also brings the lunatic, Mike, with her. Mrs. Winterbottom explains that this is her son she put up for adoption before herself and Mr. Winterbottom got married. Mr. Winterbottom is shocked and remarks that he doesn’t even know her anymore. Phoebe learns a lot of hard lessons in this story that changes her life, just like Sal
Sal’s journey reflects that of a heroine; the journey helps her discover who she really is and she comes home to share what she has learned afterward. Sal explains, “When my mother had been there, I was like a mirror. If she was happy, I was happy. If she was sad, I was sad. For the first few days after she left, I felt numb, non-feeling. I didn’t know how to feel”(Creech 37). When her mother left, Sal had no reflection. She was forced to start experiencing her feelings independently. Sometimes to start feeling again, one needs to leave what is familiar to them. The journey she took healed this numbness she felt. Furthermore, her identity and feelings were given context through Phoebe’s story and shaped by her own reflections of the
... contentment in being with Phoebe. The transformation can be identified at the point where Phoebe asked, “Aren’t you going to ride, too?” (Salinger 273). This exhibits that she is no longer angry with Holden, and this is when the transformation is complete. Holden replied, “No, I’ll just watch ya, I think I’ll just watch” (Salinger 274). By refusing, Holden took the role of protecting Phoebe, returning home, and starting a new school life.
One of the biggest challenges Francie faces while growing up is loneliness. As a young child living in a Brooklyn slum, Francie has no friends her age. The other children either find her too quiet or shun her for being different because of her extensive vocabulary. Betty Smith describes how most of Francie's childhood days are spent: "in the warm summer days the lonesome child sat on her stoop and pretended disdain for the group of children playing on the sidewalk. Francie played with her imaginary companions and made believe they were better than real children. But all the while her heart beat in rhythm to the poignant sadness of the song the children sang while walking around in a ring with hands joined." (106). Francie is lonely, and longs to be included. As Francie matures, she begins to experience a different kind of loneliness. Betty Smith portrays her feelings as she observes her neighborhood: "spring came early that year and the sweet warm nights made her restless. She walked up and down the streets and through the park. And wherever she went, she saw a boy and a girl together, walking arm-in-arm, sitting on a park bench with their arms around each other, standing closely and in silence in a vestibule. Everyone in the world but Francie had a sweetheart or a friend she seemed to be the only lonely one in Brooklyn without a friend." (403). Loneliness is a constant challenge for Francie but it is through her loneliness that she finds a new companion in her books. Francie reads as an alternative for her lack of friends and companions. It is through her love of reading that Francie develops her extensive, sophisticated vocabulary. Her books lead her into maturity and help her learn to be independent and overcome her many hardships.
Tragedy, however, almost strikes as the narrator takes this break from reality. As the family reaches Miles City, Montana, the two young children become captivated by the thought of swimming in a refreshing pool. No adults are aloud into the pool area during the lunch break, but the children are still able to take a swim with the lifeguard present. As the narrator steps out of sight, the youngest girl’s curiosity captures her, and she almost drowns in the pool. Meg had nearly submerged before the mother had a vague premonition that something on this afternoon is very wrong. Running toward the pool, the girl’s parents reach her in time, but this incident seeps much deeper as the mother gains wisdom and identity from the experience.
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, is a story about a girl named salamacka or sal for sort.Her hometown wase bybanks kentucky before she move to yukled,ohio, because her mom left and her dad couldcode not stay, because every place remind him of his wife. And sal was unhappy because she had many memories of her mom thaer. At yukled,ohio she meets girl named Phoebe and they become faineds and pebbey and sal head menu scars and wonders that she tends to her grandparents on their way to see sal's mom.the main character sal experiencesexpress many changes do to internal and external forces
The Lit Circle book that my group read was, Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. This novel tells the story of Salamanca Hiddle(Sal), a 13-year old girl who moves away from her house in Kentucky to Ohio after her mother left her and father. From here, she goes on a trip with her parents to Idaho following the path of her mother's tour bus. Along the way, she tells the outrageous story of Phoebe who befriended back in Ohio. Sal uses Phoebe's story to gain understanding about her similar experiences and uses this to guide her on the journey she takes.
“Just over a year ago, my father plucked me up like a weed and took me and all our belongings… and stopped in front of a house in Euclid,Ohio.”(Creech 1). When a child moves from one place to another, they feel a range of emotions including a sense of lost. In Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech uses internal and external forces to change Salamincas character by forcing her to leave something and someone she loves, using nature as a way to influence her through the drive, and making her have to realize her mom is dead.
Holly Janquell is a runaway. Wendelin Van Draanan creates a twelve year old character in the story, Runaway, that is stubborn and naive enough to think she can live out in the streets alone, until she is eighteen.She has been in five foster homes for the past two years. She is in foster care because her mother dies of heroin overdose. In her current foster home, she is abused, locked in the laundry room for days without food, and gets in even more trouble if she tries to fight back. Ms.Leone, her schoolteacher, could never understand her, and in Holly’s opinion, probably does not care. No one knows what she is going through, because she never opens up to any one. Ms. Leone gives Holly a journal at school one day and tells her to write poetry and express her feelings. Holly is disgusted. But one day when she is sitting in the cold laundry room, and extremely bored, she pulls out the diary, and starts to write. When Holly can take no more of her current foster home, she runs, taking the journal with her. The journal entries in her journal, are all written as if she is talking to Ms.Leone, even though she will probably never see her again. Over the course of her journey, Holly learns to face her past through writing, and discovers a love for poetry. At some point in this book, Holly stops venting to Ms. Leone and starts talking to her, almost like an imaginary friend, and finally opens up to her.
Suffering from the death of a close friend, the boy tries to ignore his feelings and jokes on his sister. His friend was a mental patient who threw himself off a building. Being really young and unable to cope with this tragedy, the boy jokes to his sister about the bridge collapsing. "The mention of the suicide and of the bridge collapsing set a depressing tone for the rest of the story" (Baker 170). Arguments about Raisinettes force the father to settle it by saying, "you will both spoil your lunch." As their day continues, their arguments become more serious and present concern for the father who is trying to understand his children better. In complete agreement with Justin Oeltzes’ paper, "A Sad Story," I also feel that this dark foreshadowing of time to come is an indication of the author’s direct intention to write a sad story.
influence all her life and struggles to accept her true identity. Through the story you can
An example is her torture during the majority of the book. In 6th grade she went to her friends party, and to her astonishment, a couple began making out in the closet. She called her mom to tell her what was going on and her mom told the mother ...
In the book, Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech, the theme “We don't know the worth of water until the well is dry” is also contributed by the character Phoebe. Phoebe immediately feels regret once she finds out her mother has left and could possibly not be coming back.“I still didn't think much of it, but Phoebe was suspicious. Prudence made the spaghetti, while I helped Phoebe set the table. Phoebe and I even made a salad. ‘I do feel sort of independent,’ Phoebe said. When Phoebe’s father came home, Phoebe showed him his note. He opened it and sat down, staring at the piece of paper. Phoebe looked over his shoulder and read his note aloud: I had to go away. I can't explain. I'll call you in a few days. I had a sinking, sinking feeling. Prudence started asking a million questions. ‘What does she mean? Go away where? Why can't she explain? Why didn't she tell you? Did she mention this? A few days? Where did she go?’ ‘Maybe we should call the police,’ Phoebe said. ‘I think she was kidnapped or something.’ ‘Oh Phoebe,’ Mr. Winterbottom said. ‘I'm serious,’ she said. ‘Maybe a lunatic came in the house and dragged her off-’ ‘Phoebe, that is not funny.’ ‘I'm not being funny. I mean it. It could happen.’” (117)Therefore, the character Phoebe contributes to the theme because as the quotes say, Phoebe feels more independent now that her mother is gone, she feels uncomfortable to be in more charge than if Mrs.Winterbottom was still there. Phoebe begins to get worried about Mrs. Winterbottom, whereas though before she had left, Phoebe did not really care about her mother. Now that Mrs. Winterbottom is gone, Phoebe begins to realize how important she is to her and how much she does for her. Phoebe begins to think of something else to believe because she doesn't want to believe that her mother had left because of her. Phoebe's mother is like the water in the theme. Phoebe hadn't realized
The mother in the story a nameless figure with very little description and almost no voice what so ever. She is a bitter reminder of how society views some woman. They are seen as a permanent stature of a home but not necessarily a figure in society. The kids both very loud and annoying portray a selfish, rude, an almost ignorant way of society such as Jo...
The irony comes into play when the truth starts to unravel and Jack finds out what really happened to him as a child and why he does not know his parents. After some coincidental events, all the main characters end up in the same room. When Lady Bracknell hears Ms. Prism’s (the woman Jack hired as his nieces governess) name she immediately asks to see her. She continues to say that Ms. Prism had wandered off with a baby years ago and asks what came about of that. Ms. Prism continues the dialog to explain how she misplaced a baby that was in her bag at a train station. Jack, thinking he might have been that very baby, retrieves the bag he was found in as an infant in which Ms. Prism identifies by some distinguishing marks to have been her own. Jack realized the woman that had been teaching his niece was his mother. But then Lady Bracknell explained that she was not but Lady Bracknell’s poor sister Mrs. Moncrieff was.
In the short story “Eveline “ by James Joyce, Eveline, the protagonist is given the opportunity to escape from her hard unendurable life at home and live a life of true happiness at Buenos Ayres with Frank, her lover. Throughout the story, Eveline is faced with a few good memories of her past from her childhood and her mother, but she also faces the horrible flashbacks of her mother’s illness and her father’s violence. In the end, she does not leave with Frank, Eveline’s indecisiveness and the burden of her family’s duties makes her stay.