“Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning, my brothers brother’s was worth a pocket watch.” (p.27)
The novel I decided to read is called, Between Shades of Gray. Lina Vilkas is the protagonist and narrator in the story. She is a very opinionated young 15 year old artist who also demonstrates strength, and bravery throughout the novel. She truly has an eye for art and admires Munch’s work. The story focuses largely just as much on her family, which consists of her mother Elena Vilkas, her father Kostas Vilkas and, her younger brother Jonas Vilkas. Elena Vilkas is described as an “ elegant,” beautiful and positive woman. Lina explains how lucky she feels to have her mother’s “honey coloured hair” and, bright blue eyes.
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Their father Kostas was a professor who worked at the local university in their hometown, Kaunas, Lithuania. I can fairly mention that the setting of the book takes place in a train car for a quarter and a bit of the book. When Lina first arrived on the train car, “[she] scanned the group. Faces spoke to their future. [she] saw courage, anger, fear, and confusion.” (p.35) Plenty of characters are introduced during this tight time for example: the gray haired man who winds his watch, the angry bald man who is constantly speaking his mind, and Ona the young mother arrested only moments after giving birth to her baby girl. These are only a handful of characters that Lina encounters on her way to Asia on the train car. She meets a young man named Andrius Arvydas, a 17 year old boy on the train car with his mother Mrs. Arvydas. They grow to enjoy each other's company and fall madly in love with each other. Andrius acts as a role model for Jonas, Lina and Elena are thankful for this but eventually lose touch with him. At one part earlier in the book during their last few minutes of freedom for quite a few years, Andrius, Jonas and, Lina lay on the thick green
In the book Between Shades of Gray Ona is a character who is placed in the book to create emotion and a demonstration of motherly grace. One very important way they create These things with her in this book is by using her baby in the equation. As soon as her baby was born she had soviet soldiers stuff her and her baby into a cattle car full of people to take them to who knows where. On this trip in the cattle car no one expected the baby to live and right they were. Once the baby had died Ona was grieving over the child's death by “ Being very quite and not celebrating when they find out the germans were in lithuania!” (Sepetys 69). This adds great emotion and shows great motherly grace in the book by connecting with the people who are reading
In the Lilies of the Field by William E. Barrett, Homer and Mother Maria both display straightforward, hardworking, and stubborn character traits. Firstly, Homer and Mother Maria both display a straightforward personality by being brutally honest about their opinions. For example, when Mother Maria asks Homer to build a chapel, Homer speaks his mind by telling her he does not want to build it. Mother Maria shows her straightforward behavior during Homer’s stay at the convent. One morning, when Homer sleeps in late, Mother to becomes extremely upset and is not afraid to show how she feels about him. Secondly, both Homer and Mother Maria display a hardworking spirit. Homer is a hardworking man because after finally agreeing to build the chapel,
The production of Honky is a satirical comedy, following the lives of five people and the language of racism. While it focuses on the plot of 5 characters, the storyline was well thought out and intriguing. One actor in specific, Gerard Joseph, who played Thomas, did an exceptionally well job at conveying emotion and projecting to the audience, in my opinion. The overall directing, from the actors to the soundtrack and lightning, seem to be presented with excellent detail. Overall, this production was well done.
In Frank Beddors, “The Looking Glass Wars” a lot of things happen that are bad. There are lots of good things too. The story is about the “Myth” of Alice Liddell stepping through a looking glass into Wonderland. The topic of this essay is the Truth of the story. The purpose of this paper is how Loyal or devoted some people are to white imagination
Hope and joy can be hard to find especially when times are tough. This is a situation in Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse , the character Billy Jo and her family are living in the time of the Dust Bowl and are struggling financially . Her father is a farmer in a time where nothing grows and after an accident Billy Jo’s mother passes away. This is a big part of Billy Jo is effected emotionally and shows seems very sad. Billy Jo has to move and has to move on and find joy and hope even in tough times.
Lina Vilkas is a fifteen year old girl who is the protagonist of this story. She was taken, by the NKVD, from her house with her mother and brother to exile. Later in the story she meets Andrius and falls in love with him. She marries him after the war while moving from place to place. Andrius uses his misfortune as a fortune to help others. He takes care of Lina and her family as best he can. Nikolai Kretzsky is a young NKVD officer who helps Lina and her mother even after Lina insulted him. Mr Stalas is a Jew who is deported with the other people. He wanted to die with dignity. He is often referred to as The Bald Man. He confesses that he was liable for the deportation. Janina is a starry-eyed young girl who likes to help others and to talk to her "dead" doll. When few selected people are brought to the North Pole for more suffering, dozens of people die from cholera and pneumonia. Lina however, survives and manages to save Jonas and Janina with the help of Nikolai Kretzsky.
People have goals everyday, believe it or not some people think that dreams aren't worth it. I believe that it is worth it to dream because it gives a person a goal, it makes them feel good, and it makes them stronger. I know this from The Pearl, A Cubs video, the Susan Boyle video, and We Beat the streets.
In The Big Field, author Mike Lupica explores the theme, "Success uses motivation as fuel." Lupica portrays this theme through the main character, Hutch. Throughout the entire book, Hutch, a young boy that has just recently joined a highly talented baseball team, displays moments that exemplify this main theme. Hutch and his team have a chance to play in the stadium of the Miami Marlins, a Major League Baseball team, as long as they can keep winning games and advancing through a challenging tournament; however, Hutch's favorite position on the field, shortstop, the position located between 2nd and 3rd base, has already been filled on the team. Unfortunately, Hutch gets a demotion from shortstop, to second base, the position located between 1st base and 2nd base. Although Hutch was disappointed and melancholy about the switch in position, he was even more upset about the downgrading of leadership, since the
...ho have run away and left their burdens behind.... I can give them something that neither a husband, a father, nor a grandfather ever did, so they want to hold on as long as they can. Not realizing that their holding on will break me too." [pp. 166-67]
Piaget believed that a child’s development is neither intrinsic (learning based on interest) or extrinsic (learning from an outside force, such as a parent). He believed that a child develops based on his or hers interactions in the environment (Mooney 2000). Piaget created four stages of cognitive development, some of which can be seen in the film “Cheaper by the Dozen”. A few examples of characters that display Piaget’s theory are the twins, who are in the preoperational stage and lack the concept of conservatism, and the mastermind, who is in the concrete operational stage and show's the concept of decentralism. These characters will have Piaget’s theory applied to them in the following paragraphs.
Many authors find inspiration through their past experiences, whether it is subconscious or not they incorporate a little part of their life into their stories. Katherine O’Flaherty, later Kate Chopin, grew up very differently from many girls in the eighteen hundreds. Her unusual childhood had her surrounded by three independent and educated women, which is how she grew up with such strong feminist views. Throughout her schooling and homelife, Kate was taught to live independently and think for herself. Kate Chopin uses her life’s experiences to help shape her characters and plot throughout many of her writings including “The Story of an Hour” and The Awakening.
In the midst of all troubles, it is effortless to complace the value of our life with the hardship that is faced. In both “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare and “Roger Ebert: The Essential Man” by Chris Jones, we read that both main characters go through life changing events. Through both journeys we promptly learn that the value of life is not controlled by setbacks we face but the motives we withhold while going through the process.
Fate. The development of events beyond a person’s control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power. Many people do not believe in the concept of fate. Others believe that they can control their fates. In Anthony Doerr’s novel, All the Light We Cannot See, he provides points of view from two characters who are on different sides of a spectrum, yet their fates inexplicably intertwine. Whether you believe in this supposed supernatural occurrence, in the novel, readers can’t help but feel that had the two of these characters been born in a different time, they might have lived happily ever after rather than be dealt the cruel cards of their of fates.
Exile is both an enriching experience and unmendable gap in life. Although exile is one word, there are many different ways to interpret it. In the novel, State of Wonder, Ann Patchett illustrates this arduous experience through Marina. Through her exile, Marina confronts the treacherous Amazon however, it ultimately led to an unexpected enlightenment in her life. Marina contemplated the right from wrong as well as the importance of the real truth. All of these experiences and emotions that were pulsing through her body ultimately revealed the contrasting worlds of morals and temptations that could lead to abandonment.
Noah is the one of the main characters of The Notebook. He is the hero of this novel. Noah represents true love and true loyalty. In a way, The Notebook is similar to every modern day romance movie, and Noah represents the “dream man” that all the girls always imagine of having. The characters in movies are used to symbolize ideas, and in this novel, Noah represents true, faithful, committed love. Noah remains loyal to Allie even in the situation where he is unsure whether they will ever meet again or not.