Whirligig by Paul Fleischman

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In the novel Whirligig, by Paul Fleischman, Brent Bishop goes on the journey of his life. After becoming drunk and being humiliated at a party, Brent starts to drive home, but on the way, he decides to attempt suicide, resulting in the accidental murder of Lea Zamora, an 18 year old girl. Lea’s family is devastated, but Mrs. Zamora asks only one favor of Brent, to travel the country and build whirligigs in her daughter’s honor to spread the joy that Lea would have if she was still alive. Through Brent’s journey, the consequences that he encounters do wonders on changing his outlook on life as well as himself. Brent goes from a suicidal conformist to an artistic traveler all because of the negative consequences and the positive consequences that he experiences, and consequences that completely transform his life.

Many of Brent’s careless and violent actions have caused negative consequences. Brent starts the ball of bad consequences rolling when he goes to a party with his friend Jake. The night starts off bad and gets worse from there. Brent begins to drink, clouding his mind and affecting his judgement. He goes up to his crush Brianna while under the influence and starts to chafe her, causing her to get mad and begin yelling at him. Brent becomes severely depressed and suicidal, and he decides to try and kill himself while supposedly driving home. This is the first of many corollaries that Brent experiences. After his unsuccessful attempt to commit suicide, Brent is informed that he has killed Lea Zamora, an 18 year old girl who is a “...senior at Niles North High School, an honor student, ...volunteer at Resurrection Hospital. Why did he have to kill someone like that?”(35) When he hears this, Brent begins to feel a strong g...

... middle of paper ...

...uild the whirligig . Brent becomes a new person in the course of his journey; he becomes the person that he truly is, without the fake attributes.

Brent Bishop begins his change right before the crash. He decides that he no longer wants to be controlled by those around him, but to be a one-of-a-kind individual. He must face many obstacles through his journey, but he also has many enjoyable experiences along the way. The negative consequences shape Brent by raising his awareness of his acts and giving him experiences that he knows how to avoid, while the positive consequences show him things in life that he enjoys and wants to do, as well as giving Brent a more-in-depth outlook on life. He has become a new man because of consequences. They have changed his life forever, and will continue to do so for the rest of his life.

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Whirligig by Paul Fleischman

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