In the well-executed novel Burned, by Ellen Hopkins, the heart wrenching story of a young girl trying to discover herself in a broken world is told. Raised in a strict Mormon household, Pattyn Scarlett Von Stratten is a mistreated teenager burdened with the troubling idea of self discovery. Pattyn lives life day-to-day under the strict rulings of her Mormon family, with her only escape being an undeniably lost mind. Pattyn struggles to search for a life worth living and deals with an emotionally- and physically- damaging family. Due to the well-placed use of literary devices such as tone, imagery, and character development, Hopkins effectively tells the story of a mistreated Mormon girl who is given a not so perfect- possibly tragic- life. …show more content…
Over the course of the novel, Hopkins intentionally evokes the reader’s emotions by showing the disturbing life of a young girl and displaying the hardships she went through in her teenage life.
Immediately in the first few pages, Pattyn, the narrator, openly asks disturbing questions to the reader such as, “Do you ever dangle your toes over the precipice, dare the cliff to crumble” (Hopkins 2). These first impressions of the protagonist allow the reader to infer that Pattyn has a damaged mentality. The reader is continuously presented with harsh narrations of her being constantly disciplined by her drunken father to care for her siblings by playing a motherly role. Pattyn’s life is continuously crushed by reality and burdened by her strict household. It is not until later in the novel- when Pattyn is forced to live with her Aunt J for the summer as a punishment- that she begins to discover happiness and self worth. She illustrates that, “Ever since [she] had been with Aunt J, [she] had learned things” (Hopkins 266). While with her Aunt, Pattyn was introduced to a whole new world of love and happiness; she has newfound relationships with her Aunt and a young boy named Ethan. For once, Pattyn feels wanted and valued. She goes from completely questioning her reason to live to having a genuine sense of self driven happiness. She was at an all time low in life and was able to find reason to live a fulfilling life. Hopkins, since the beginning of the novel, effortlessly captures the reader’s interest and presents them with an exceptional story centered on Pattyn’s overall character
development. Hopkins also makes use of tone to establish general mood and feelings in the novel. For instance, Pattyn narrates- in a disgustful tone- many important scenarios involving her drunken father. She is forced with the terrifying occurrence of her younger sister running to warn her that “dad had already drowned himself in Johnnie WB” (Hopkins 106). Pattyn talks about her father with hatred. She sees the monster in him and illustrates the reality of the situation. The hateful tone allows the reader to truly see how terrible of a man her father really is. She makes it clear that her mistreats her and her family, and shows the reader how he acts behind closed doors. After distancing herself physically from her father by living with her Aunt J, Pattyn also narrates in a more enlightening tone. After becoming really close with Ethan, her new boyfriend, she states, “Ethan was no summer fling. Suddenly, certainly, he was everything” (Hopkins 318). Pattyn has become much happier with her daily life. She views the world that Aunt J showed her with positivity and interest. This allows the reader to make the connection that her emotional pain was caused by her disturbing home life and forceful parents. Pattyn goes from having a bitter personality to being engulfed by euphoria all due to the shifts in tone placed in the novel by Hopkins. Lastly, Hopkins also uses realistic images to further set the overall mood during specific parts of Pattyn’s life. In the beginning, Pattyn describes, with metaphoric imaginary that the reader easily can picture, what it is like to go home to a disturbing household; “Reality rushed in around me. Crushed me, like the watery weight of the deepest sea” (Hopkins 106). The image of the water crushing Pattyn’s fragile body shows how hard it is to live with her family. She constantly feels pain and discomfort around them. She is always letting her mind run aimlessly in order to find an escape from her family. Once Pattyn has to return home from her eye opening visit with Aunt J, the pain quickly returns. After losing Ethan, due to a tragic car accident, she sees her world quickly falling apart once again. Hopkins closes the novel with the heart wrenching image of Pattyn contemplating life; “I am sitting on the hard cement railing of a freeway overpass. Legs dangling, I watched the unrelenting motion of normal people in daily transit” (Hopkins 530). This image really intensifies the idea that Pattyn dislikes her life once again. She no longer has anything to live for, and she has trouble believing that her life will get better. By ending the book with this kind of image, Hopkins is able to evoke the reader’s emotions and make them continue to think after they put the book down. The use of imagery in this novel enhances the underlying theme of Pattyn’s overall character development. In conclusion, Hopkins’ use of emotionally evoking images, strong tone, and vast character development helps tell the story of an emotionally beaten young girl. Over the course of the novel, Pattyn Scarlett Von Stratten has battled many emotionally damaging situations; she had to deal with an abusive father, a forceful house hold, and even lost her one true love. Hopkins meticulously makes use of literary devices and presents the reader with a heart wrenching novel that explores the life, and mind, of the broken Pattyn. She effortlessly engulfs the reader up until the very last and leaves them wanting more.
This book teaches the importance of self-expression and independence. If we did not have these necessities, then life would be like those in this novel. Empty, redundant, and fearful of what is going on. The quotes above show how different life can be without our basic freedoms. This novel was very interesting and it shows, no matter how dismal a situation is, there is always a way out if you never give up, even if you have to do it alone.
Lily is finally able to let go of the burdens she holds as her trust for August grows. She is able to come clean to August about all the lies and explains the real reason her and Rosaleen are in Tiburon. As the true story of Deborah unfolds, August is able to finally understand the troubles Lily face and how depleted the young girl is. With the help of August and all of the other influential black women Lily encounters along this journey, she is finally able to release her burdens and believe in the strength she possesses within. The last scene of the novel includes this powerful imagery of Lily’s new life, “I go back to that one moment when I stood in the driveway with small rocks and clumps of dirt around my feet and looked back at the porch. And there they were. All these mothers… They are the moons shining over me” (302). It is clear Lily can now grow and develop as the young woman she has always yearned to become with these important new women in her life there to guide her and be her supporters. They have shown Lily that she needs to be her own number one provider of love and strength, but as seen in this imagery, they will always be there when she needs them. By using this technique at the end of the book, Kidd is able to wrap Lily’s
Her father works out of town and does not seem to be involved in his daughters lives as much. Her older sister, who works at the school, is nothing but plain Jane. Connie’s mother, who did nothing nag at her, to Connie, her mother’s words were nothing but jealousy from the beauty she had once had. The only thing Connie seems to enjoy is going out with her best friend to the mall, at times even sneaking into a drive-in restaurant across the road. Connie has two sides to herself, a version her family sees and a version everyone else sees.
Obstacles are present within everybody’s travails through life. No matter the complexity of a problem one faces, it is something that will indisputably have to be completed. Although some predicaments may be more severe than others, the reactions and responses to them will ultimately determine the outcome. At a point of Kent Haruf’s National Book Award Finalist, Plainsong, one of the main characters, Victoria Roubideaux, witnessed an event that minor characters took part in, which unknowingly represented her primary internal conflict throughout the novel.
Center stage in Kaye Gibbons’ inspiring bildungsroman, Ellen Foster, is the spunky heroine Ellen Foster. At the start of the novel, Ellen is a fiery nine-year old girl. Her whole life, especially the three years depicted in Ellen Foster, Ellen is exposed to death, neglect, hunger and emotional and physical abuse. Despite the atrocities surrounding her, Ellen asks for nothing more than to find a “new mama” to love her. She avoids facing the harsh reality of strangers and her own family’s cruelty towards her by using different forms of escapism. Thrice Ellen is exposed to death (Gibbons 27). Each time, Ellen has a conversation with a magician to cope with the trauma (Gibbons 22-145). Many times Ellen’s actions and words cause it to be difficult to tell that she is still a child. However, in order to distract herself, Ellen will play meaningful games (Gibbons 26). These games become a fulcrum for Ellen’s inner child to express itself. Frequently, Ellen will lapse into a daydream (Gibbons 67). Usually, these daydreams are meant to protect herself from the harsh reality around her. Ellen Foster’s unique use of escapism resounds as the theme of Kaye Gibbon’s Ellen Foster.
To conclude, through his masterful use of setting, symbolism and characterisation, Robin Jenkins portrays the horrific consequences of people’s failure to alleviate the suffering of those less fortunate. This horrific consequence is represented as Tom’s suicide at the end of the novel, which is definitely unexpected when the reader compares his initial character to the needy, despairing character he became towards the end. This results in a powerful and harrowing novel which certainly leaves a bitter taste in the reader’s mouth, forcing them to think about their own lives and what they may be doing to help others.
In conclusion, the tenuous relationship Sethe shared with her mother led to Sethe’s inability to provide for her children. Consequentially, the murder of Beloved built an emotional barrier that added to the preexisting issue of concerning her stolen milk left Denver with too little milk and the primitive drive to live that at first seemed foiled by her mother’s overbearing past. Yet, against all odds Denver was able to break her family’s legacy of being engulfed in the past and began taking steps for a better future.
Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...
By definition, a family is bound by relation, regardless of whether or not individuals are cared for and loved. However, Kingsolver rewrites this notion by the supportive and strong family that forms from unconventional roots; two single mothers, a lesbian couple, one of which is blind, a female mechanic, an illegal immigrant couple, and of course, an Indian and deeply abused toddler. Therefore, Kingsolver illustrates that a family is fostered out of love, protection, and admiration rather than bloodlines that bind people together. As a child, Taylor’s single mother instilled in her strength, courage, and fearlessness, and taught her never to succumb to the pressures that make one vulnerable. In the Doctor’s office scene, Turtle’s x-ray results expose clear contrast and heartbreak. It is evident that Turtle’s biological parents caused great harm and abuse to her fragile body, as she is littered with spiral fibular fractures and contraindications to her evolving psychomotor development (166). And, the physical scars are just scratch the surface to the fearful lens through which she sees the world at such a young age. Clearly, instead of a curious and carefree toddler, Turtle is a tragic child conscious of deep sexual and emotional abuse inflicted by her own parents. In this passage, Turtle is the bird trying to make a home for herself in the prickly “coat of yellow spines”, and
The central character in the book is Grace Marks, who migrated to Canada from Ireland when she was 13 years old. On the way to Canada, Grace lost her mother because of a tumour that the latter had developed due to the unhygienic conditions on the voyage. After that, the only person whom Grace was close to was Mary Whitney, a co-servant in the Parkinson household. Mary Whitney’s death, due to pre-marital pregnancy and lame efforts to abort the foetus, weighs heavily on Grace who claims to have hea...
This novel has the feel of a memoir; I feel like we are reading Elly’s autobiography. I did have a hard time keeping up with the novel’s plot, as many things are happening all at once – sexual abuse, domestic violence, terrorism, kidnapping, death of loved ones. Tragedies after tragedies were heaped on the characters. The novel was also peppered with many actual historical events, including 9/11. However, it is the character Jenny Penny, Elly’s best friend, that struck me the most. Reading about Jenny Penny, I felt sad. Jenny Penny comes from a broken home, her parents are separated. She does not have a father figure to look up to, except for her mother’s numerous boyfriends. To me, her mother is still a child herself. As Elly said, Jenny Penny and her mother “lived in a temporary world of temporary men; a world that could be broken up and reassembled as easily and as quickly as Lego”. This is also highlighted by the quote “Jenny Penny had never known her father. Sh...
She is looking at the book through a catholic stance. She sees the real world aspects that are applied to this book, and feels the content should be discussed with children as they ask. She feels the topics addressed in the book are relevant to the age groups reading, but that the children reading should not get overran with information when they ask questions about the book. She feels it is the responsibility of the parent to discuss these delicate issues with their prepubescent teen. In this stance the parents can filter the information received by the child in a way that is simplified enough for the child to understand. She feels the book is a gift to the world that helps children to understand and connect what happens in a world where people lose their sense of self-worth and
their life whether it is for the best or for the worst. Throughout the novel, A Visit from the
One day Janie saw in the distance, Johnny Taylor, whom she kissed, which Nanny caught her doing and made her rush Janie off to marriage with a man she knew from church, Logan Killicks. When she married Logan, she one didn’t love him nor did she get to be herself. Then one day when she was working with the animals, a stylish man came along known as Joe Starks and or Jody Starks. He flirted with Janie and persuaded her to run away from her farm work and to be with him,so they could move to a new all-black town known as Eatonville. When they got there Janie was happy to be Joe, but that change over the course of time. After many years passed, Janie started to not be the happy, joyful spirited person she usually is. Since Joe told put her hair up in a wrap, it’s like Janie lost a part of herself, a part of her identity. She turned into what Joe wanted her to be not who she was. Then a few more years later, Joe passed away and Janie felt free. She let her hair down and felt like Janie again. Then she met Tea Cake. Tea Cake, or Vergible Woods, he changed her life. Tea Cake made her feel equal, Janie felt free and that she could finally be herself. Janie finally achieved her true happiness and true
As a girl, she had an extremely difficult childhood as an orphan and was passed around from orphanage to orphanage. The author has absolute admiration for how his mother overcame her upbringing. He opens the third chapter by saying, “She was whatever the opposite of a juvenile delinquent is, and this was not due to her upbringing in a Catholic orphanage, since whatever it was in her that was the opposite of a juvenile delinquent was too strong to have been due to the effect of any environment…the life where life had thrown her was deep and dirty” (40). By saying that she was ‘the opposite of a juvenile delinquent’, he makes her appear as almost a saintly figure, as he looks up to her with profound admiration. He defends his views on his mother’s saintly status as not being an effect of being in a Catholic orphanage, rather, due to her own strong will. O’Connor acknowledges to the extent that her childhood was difficult through his diction of life ‘throwing’ her rather than her being in control of it. As a result, she ended up in unsanitary and uncomfortable orphanages, a ‘deep and dirty’ circumstance that was out of her control. Because of this, the author recognizes that although his childhood was troublesome, his mother’s was much worse. She was still able to overcome it, and because of it, he can overcome