Importance of the Gardens in The Sparrow

900 Words2 Pages

The actual turning point in The Sparrow was when the Utra-Light crashed. However, it was of little interest. The importance of the novel lied within the gardens that were built. The garden the Jesuit mission planted served as the catalyst to the future demise of the group, and especially Emilio. Emilio not only had his body destroyed, but also his soul. The gardens caused a slaughter, an imprisonment, an eventual destruction of the survivor's hands, another death, a rape, and a long period of despair for the only survivor of the overall mission.

The crashing of the Utra-Light by Sofia and Marc (290) was simply the turning point because it was the beginning of the many unfortunate events that happened to the group. However, it was not the cause of the destruction of the group. After the crash, Sofia and Marc flew the lander back to camp; it then did not have enough gas to get the crew back to the asteroid. The group then decided they might have to stay on Rakhat for the rest of their lives. Soon thereafter they built the garden. However, they already wanted to grow some sort of constant food source before the Utra-Light ever crashed (194-5). Also, the group was hardly saddened when they realized the effect of the lander being out of gas (298). Moreover, Emilio was one of the happiest to learn he would be staying on Rakhat. The news had no long-term or short-term effect on Emilio's happiness, soul, or body.

There was only so much food the group could bring with them on the lander. It was inevitable that they would eventually run out, especially when they found out they would probably be stuck on Rakhat. They tried eating the food on Rakhat, but they wanted to grow their own too. They wanted to grow the garden ...

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...reshadowing had to do with an object in a garden, the author wanted the reader to realize that the garden was in fact the original cause of despair.

The importance of this novel lied in the fact that the gardens equaled the ruining of the Jesuit group, especially Emilio's body and soul. The author's point was that a man who left earth as a whole man, envied and looked up to by many, came back with his life in an egregious state. The worst part about it was that next to no one gave him a real chance to explain himself. Instead, he felt as if everyone was after him, not feeling as if he had any support at all. It took one main decision, a reasonable, and almost necessary decision, to led to Emilio's demise. The point was that anyone, anyone at all, no matter how important, smart, good-looking, or popular, could have his or her body and soul destroyed at anytime.

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