The novel Children of the dust by Louise Lawrence is about the aftermath of a nuclear war. It follows the story of three generations of a family and their journey to recovery. Two characters in the novel that helped me understand the important message of the success of a group depends on the quality of the leader were Veronica and Sarah as their different leadership skills contrasted revealing the importance of a good leader and how their actions impacted the survival of Catherine. In the novel Veronica is a poor leader. As the nuclear war occurred she became selfish and no longer put the needs of her children in front of her own. The stress of the situation got to Veronica and rather than taking control and looking out for her children she …show more content…
This affected William and Catherine because Veronica was their mother and the person they looked to for any compensation that everything was going to be alright. When Veronica snapped at them it diminished any hope they had previously and made them think that Veronica did not care about them. It bought Catherine and William to begin to think negatively based on the emotional decision of Veronica. Rather than being strong for her children and persevering to do what was the best for them, being someone inflicting hope and courage in order for them to as a group stay strong and have the best chance of survival without completely falling apart, she made an emotional decision and snapped at her children. This portrayed selfishness because she was only thinking about herself when she chose to react in such a way rather than how her actions could affect William and Catherine. Over time the pressure of looking after her children in a time of such unfortunate events got to Veronica and she began to break down and lose hope. “Oh god. I can’t go on like this. I just can’t.” If Veronica was a selfless leader she would have found a way to persevere through this difficult time of such stress and pressure for the good of William, Catherine and Sarah but instead she lacked motivation and resulted …show more content…
At the beginning of the novel as Veronica became a nihilist Sarah selflessly stepped up and did everything she could do to take responsibility of William and Catherine. She came to realise she was all they had left and was their only hope. “It had to be her. She would have to take on the responsibility Veronica had abandoned.” This showed that Sarah was a selfless leader because stepping up required personal sacrifice as she no longer had only herself to worry for but she devoted herself to taking care of William and Catherine. This shows us that Sarah was a respectable and selfless leader because she took the role of responsibility when Veronica broke down and became selfish. Sarah showed compassion as she came to realise she was going to die so she stepped up and devoted the rest of her like to making sure Catherine had the necessities to survive. “Her part was over, her purpose played out. She had lived for Catherine.” This portrays Sarah's selfless leadership qualities. Despite her acknowledging the fact she was going to die she continued focusing on helping Catherine which impacted Catherine greatly. Sarah's willingness to help Catherine was a vital part of Catherine's survival because without her Catherine would not have had the right tools and environment to survive and as a group together they would have failed. Sarah stepped up and took responsibility of Catherine and William without having to be persuaded but purely because she
In Patricia MacLachlan’s Sarah, Plain and Tall the narrative style is apparent. We know that it is the character Anna whose point of view this story is from. It is essential that it is told from her point of view, because the arrival of Sarah will ultimately affect her the most. We get a sense of the pain that she has undergone, as well as the over-whelming sense of love and pride she has for her family. As Anna explains, “…I didn’t tell him what I really thought. He was homely and plain, and he had a terrible holler and a horrid smell. But these were not the worst of him. Mama died the next morning. That was the worst thing about Caleb” (MacLachlan 4). It also reveals to us the tremendous amount of responsibility that is resting on her young shoulders.
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.
She is fairly new to the work world and has lied on her resume’ to get hired, and realizes that the job is harder than she first thought. All hope is not lost because Violet assures her that she can be trained. She ends up succeeding at the company and telling her husband she will not take him back after he comes back begging for her love again.
After Sarah escapes the unsanitary camp with Rachel, the two run until they find a place of beauty. “In the late afternoon, they came to a forest, a long, cool stretch of green leafiness. It smelled sweet and humid….a mysterious emerald world dappled with golden sunlight….The water felt wonderful to her skin, a soothing, velvety caress. She wet her shaved head, where the hair had started to grow back, a golden fuzz” (Rosnay 99). This description places images in the mind of the reader that allow for the reader to experience this moment in the forest with Sarah. Vivid descriptions of places and events are more common within Sarah’s story, as she is experiencing the horrors of the war, allowing the reader to visualize the tragedy through the descriptions in a book. Soon after the arrest, Sarah and her family are thrown into the Velodrome d’hiver with other Jews, where a woman jumps from “the highest railing” with her child in hand: “From where the girl sat, she could see the dislocated body of the woman, the bloody skull of the child, sliced open like a ripe tomato” (Rosnay 33). This description captures the horrifying sight Sarah has just witnessed, darkening the mood and tone of the book alike to the depressing events that occurred within the
...eemed to combine assimilation of American culture with that of her long lasting Jewish traditions. She has turned down and shunned away from countless Jewish traditions, for hatred of her father. As the story ends it seems that her relationship with her father strengthens and in turn her religious traditions also strengthen. The father is yet another way to view her struggle with her Jewish teachings and religious traditions. Sarah's love for her father strengthens, then so does her will to accept her Jewish upbringing. Sarah is now an American women who also carries the burden and responsibility of her Jewish past. Throughout all her life she had struggled to accomplish all her goals, and in doing so she had ruined her most important goal of fatherly acceptance. As she is proud of completing all her dreams, she has also accomplished a peace of mind with her Father.
Sarah and her mother are sought out by the French Police after an order goes out to arrest all French Jews. When Sarah’s little brother starts to feel the pressures of social injustice, he turns to his sister for guidance. Michel did not want to go with the French Police, so he asks Sarah to help him hide in their secret cupboard. Sarah does this because she loves Michel and does not want him to be discriminated against. Sarah, her mother, and her father get arrested for being Jewish and are taken to a concentration camp just outside their hometown. Sarah thinks Michel, her beloved brother, will be safe. She says, “Yes, he’d be safe there. She was sure of it. The girl murmured his name and laid her palm flat on the wooden panel. I’ll come back for you later. I promise” (Rosnay 9). During this time of inequality, where the French were removing Sarah and her mother just because they were Jewish, Sarah’s brother asked her for help. Sarah promised her brother she would be back for him and helped him escape his impending arrest. Sarah’s brother believed her because he looks up to her and loves her. As the story continues, when Sarah falls ill and is in pain, she also turns to her father for comfort, “at one point she had been sick, bringing up bile, moaning in pain. She had felt her father’s hand upon her, comforting her” (Rosnay 55).
For instance, she fought with Henry many times for the sake of Elizabeth, and the most important is that she chose death so that her daughter would have a better life. Anne was a very respectable character for the most part. She was unselfish in the end, choosing to die for the sake of her daughter. She tried to stand up for herself as a woman in a male-dominated society. Though she did not succeed in the end, she made a strong point that she would not be controlled by anyone but herself.
...nding the incident prevents determining Irene's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, she seems to be the one character who benefits the most from Clare's death. Like Clare, Irene will "do anything, hurt anybody, throw anything away" in order to "Get the things she wants badly enough" (Larsen 210).
Sarah was the sixth child. Even at a young age she showed great independence and focused many of her efforts on justice. She was very intellectual and because of this, her father paid particular attention to her over the other children. He is said to have frequently declared “if she had been of the other sex she would have made the greatest jurist in the land” (Birney, 1970, p 8). Sarah was also very personable, empathetic and car...
Sarah had her heart broken but this is when she realized she had to stop trying to fill the mold which her parents expected of her, this is where most of her struggles begins. Sarah always religious person, but after her father passed away she stayed up north to mourn on her own at this time she met this Quaker family. The Quaker family, Israel and his wife Rebecca, open their arms for Sarah and hooked her interest toward the Quaker religion, because abolitionist beliefs and the fact that women were allowed to be minsters. The Quaker beliefs amazed Sarah because she saw an opportunity to express opinions which has been on her heart for the majority of her life. After Israel’s wife died, Sarah decide to go up north to Philadelphia to live with Israel and his children to learn about Quaker religion and become a part of the church. But this cause issues with Sarah’s family, religion and society. Society was appalled that Sarah, an unmarried women, was going to live with a very recent widower, who was a part of culture which spoke out about the way of life of her southern society. Her mother disapproved of her going up north because she was not married, so it was Sarah’s obligation to live at home with her mother and help. Sarah’s mother felt abandon and betrayed by her sweet Sarah. Sarah’s pass ministers disapproved
I told you why Anne had felt this way during her ordeal, and what this reveals about her character and her views about life. Anne is a strong and heroic young girl who has a heart for others and she is very compassionate towards others. Which is a great quality to have in that time period she was going through? No one could have done it better than Anne. She helped people look at the good in the situations she was never the one mention the negative things. You think how you would react to this situation. Would you be buoyant? Or would you be colorless in this and always look at the crummy never say anything positive. All quotes can be found in the collections book pages
Despite the toll the job takes on her, Sara always sees the good things in life. This is due to two very loving parents, Sara claims. Sara refers to both of her parents as her main support system. They are also the people who have made the greatest influence on her life. “They have helped me through all of the hard times,” She told me proudly, “but they have shown me how to be a
She is loyal because she cares for her students who are in her class. Ms. Lemry stands by Sarah at all times and is there for her. Sarah is a girl who got abused by her dad when she was younger. Sarah’s father when she was younger, out her face on the stove. Sarah was always scared of her father and she still is because she is afraid of her dad coming back and killing her.
I also added a picture of a sad face and a picture of a word bubble that says shhhhhh. I added those pictures because later in her life after being burned she thought her dad was going to abuse her more so she went to a hospital where she could stay safe from her dad. While she was at the hospital she didn’t talk and she was very sad and depressed, that’s why I added the pictures of the sad face and the word bubble. I also included the word brave and blond hair because Sarah was always pretty brave and stood up for herself like when Dale was being really mean to her. I think she started to be brave and stand up for herself after her dad abused her because she didn’t want o be treated like that ever again. I also added a picture of blondes hair because in the book it says Sarah has blond hair. I also put a picture of a newspaper because Sarah and Eric wrote mean things about people in their newspaper, crispy pork rinds, to make themselves feel better, since they were both considered
Although she did all of those things, that did not guarantee that the prince would love or marry her, but she took that chance anyway. She sacrificed all that she had in hopes of gaining the love of the prince, but that just shows how people will go to the extreme measures for the people they love (Cravens).