Gleam and Glow, written by Eve Bunting was published in 2001. Gleam and Glow is told from the perspective of Viktor, a young boy living with his family in a war-torn country. After his father leaves home to fight in the war, Viktor is left home along with his mother and five-year-old sister, Marina. Viktor’s home soon becomes a shelter for travelers, where the family learned of the horrors of the war and what is to come to Viktor’s home. One day, a traveler comes to Viktor’s home with two goldfish. These goldfish, named Gleam and Glow by Marina, become a positive in a sea of negatives. However, when the day comes that the family must flee from their home, Viktor places the goldfish into the pond near their home. After days of walking, the family …show more content…
In both books, the children have to leave behind items that mean a lot to them. For Mari, she had to leave behind her sunflowers that grew in her backyard; and for Viktor and Marina, they had to leave behind the goldfish. In both books, the families had to leave their homes for reasons beyond their control – a war. Unlike Gleam and Glow, we do not see Mari return to her former home and are left to assume what happens to Mari. On a positive note, both books end with a symbol of hope. A Place Where Sunflowers Grow shows Mari’s sunflowers growing, and Gleam and Glow shows the survival of the goldfish. Both symbols provide hope and indicate that, like the sunflowers and the goldfish, the characters can adapt to their new circumstances.
Gleam and Glow presumably takes place in Bosnia before the Bosnian war. The characters are Viktor, his sister Marina, Mama, and Papa. To me, the goldfish appear to symbolize the strength it took for Viktor, his family, and the other refugees to abandon everything they knew and still make the most of what they had. Just as the refugees adapted to life during and after the war, the goldfish adapted to their new home in the pond. The goldfish are also a symbol of hope. To see that the goldfish had survived gave the family hope (“Like us . . . they
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However, I can relate to have to leave home because of a bad situation. I can also relate to having to leave behind everything you had ever known and cared about. I once had a dog and a goat when I was younger. When I had to leave, I left them with my aunt. I only got to see my animals when I visited my aunt – which was not very often. I did not get to have a happy ending with my animals like the children did at the end of the book, but I know that I always think of them.
The things that seem the most important to me in the book is the importance behind the story. Gleam and Glow brings to light a story I never would have heard and tells me about a war I never knew about before. I feel as though this book would be a great book to keep in an in-class library. Depending on where I end up teaching, there may be the possibility that I would have students who could see themselves in Gleam and Glow in some
What I liked most about it was reading from two different perspectives and how those different perspectives met through the book.
Over this entire novel, it is a good novel for children. It train children how to think logically, and notes people we should cherish our family, and people around us, very educate. Children can learn true is always been hide.
I found it very interesting and educational to learn about the history of Uganda, a country often forgotten by the Western World. Before reading this novel I had no idea about the struggle that Indians and Africans underwent during this countdown. As a result of this novel I also learned more about the issues of systematic racism and the various downsides of class systems. Before this novel I had learned about class systems, such as the caste system in India, but by infusing history with the struggles of a young girl really helped me connect with the themes in a stronger way.
I think that the messages this book displays are important for anyone to think about, and apply to their lives every day.
What are the important themes of the book? What questions or issues about teaching and learning does it address?
I can relate to this book because when I was four years old my mom and I were going down to the gas station. just a few miles from our house and my mom was not paying attention to the road because I was crying, She turned her head back and before we knew it we hit a tree head on. I can see how Willow has been feeling because my family was worried about me and my mother and they still have us but Willow lost her parents for good she cant have them back, I can only imagine Willow’s pain.
Although this book had no major affect on me, I learned how a boy can go through traumatic experiences and still have the will power to keep going on. That was the only thing that really affected me in the whole book.
They represent Lily's only connection to her deceased mother, besides her blurred memories. At one point in the novel, when Lily is talking to August, August hands Lily a photograph from the past of Lily and her mother. Lily thinks to herself, "I didn't care about anything on this earth except the way her face was tipped toward mine, our noses just touching, how wide and gorgeous her smile was, like sparklers going off (Kidd 275). When Lily sees the image of her mother, she is assured that she was deeply loved. This gives her a sense of peace and relief that she has been longing for. Nevertheless, Lily still continues to struggle with the sadness and guilt of accidentally killing her mother. However, at the end of the novel when Lily is looking at a different photograph of her mother, Lily finally is relieved of the guilt that has burdened her for so long. She thinks, "In the photograph by my bed my mother is perpetually smiling on me. I guess I have forgiven us both, although sometimes in the night my dreams will take me back to the sadness, and I have to wake up and forgive us again" (Kidd 301). Lily is beginning to move on from pain and guilt that has burdened her for so long. Through forgiving herself, Lily is freed from the torment she has held inside of her for as long as she can
The most meaningful part of the book for me, was the sit-ins, a form of protest in which demonstrators occupy a place, refusing to leave until their demands are met. The reason the sit-ins were so meaningful is that it really brought attention to how Americans were segregating the African Americas. Just as if you do nothing when a bully, whites, is picking on you, blacks, they will continue picking on you until you fight back. The sit-ins were a nonviolent way to show that they no longer will or have to take the abuse.
and "yesterday's" African Americans because it basically outlines all of the harsh struggles that the African American people had to go through to get to where they are today. I also think that this book could be used as a guiding tool, not to just blacks but whites too, to people who are lost and feel as if they serve no purpose in the world. As one can tell from reading this book, even the smallest or meaningless person can make a difference.
In my perspective, I thought that The Help by Katheryn Stockett was an exciting and special book which enhanced me views or race, class, and gender. This fantastic book gave me the thought of how life was like down in Mississippi during the 1960's. The Help gave me different standpoints and characteristics that had taken place with places still segregated by the color of their own skin. These viewpoints hit my mind that gave me the option to judge the book by how life was viewed upon by society in the past and present time.
Additionally, Nick’s ultimate goal for the fishing trip is not simply catching trout, but rather gaining internal stability and peace. Although he finds satisfaction in this activity, enjoyment alone is not a deciding factor in his choice to travel without other fishermen. Regardless of his reasoning, this decision is important as it provides him with a much-needed feeling of security and simplicity. As the only human character to directly appear in “Big Two-Hearted River”,
In conclusion this book had a big effect on its readers, and therefore accomplished the purpose of being written. It really made me think about the purpose of life and how to be happy in life. Overall it affected my personal beliefs greatly and made me appreciate what I have. By reading the teachings of a dying, wise, old man, trying to teach a young man how to be happy in life, you can learn a lot about how to do just that. Be happy.
This is an odd little book, but a very important one nonetheless. The story it tells is something like an extended parablethe style is plain, the characters are nearly stick figures, the story itself is contrived. And yet ... and yet, the story is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking because the historical trend it describes is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking.
... cross my mind but I find myself thinking differently since enrolling in this class. I enjoyed this book because it allowed me to relate to the main character, reflect on my life, and try to change myself in the process of reading it. I was able to see the parts of my life that had not been even fathomed before. When reading the book I found it difficult to read and somewhat boring but once I thought about the concepts and people involved in our class it gave me a better understanding of the book. One piece of advice would be to have the five people/ five concepts before reading these books because I feel I missed some key points looking back on the book. I feel that knowing these people/concepts before reading the book would have helped me understand the book better. This book was and interesting one and allows for every reader to have their own interpretation of it.