Thursday’s Child has far to go
Thursday’s Child, written by Sonya Hartnett, illustrates the hardships and struggles of an Australian family during the Great Depression. Set in the rural village of western Victoria after the First World War, the grips of famine, poverty and poor living conditions are having their greatest effect on this already underdeveloped society. The resilience and courage needed to even survive through these harsh conditions were scarcely found; however, one brave family managed to catch this beam of hope: the Flute family. The high demand of mental, physical and emotional stability to fight to live requires individuals who are strong willed and dedicated to achieve their goal, and without the family’s bravery and desire
…show more content…
It shows how the Flute family initially hid behind a cowardly shadow and explains why, at certain times through the novel, the characters let their pasts affect their attitudes and actions in the present. Most importantly, it illustrates how their hope and belief in finding a better life allows for the creation of an intangible child that will guide them to this new place. It allows for the creation of Thursday’s Child, a young, courageous boy who carries all their dreams and desires yet is just out of reach and cannot be caught; Thursday's child has far to go.
Da’s attitudes and actions towards his family and their hardships are blurred with his lack of bravery
…show more content…
The development of young characters can be seen throughout the novel with the shift in responsibility to be a parent from Ma and Da to Audrey and Devon. “Sometimes, as Da had done, Devon took a thing to town to pawn. He pawned the box that Grandda’s money had come in and brought home second-hand shoes for me.” (135) Further, this can also be seen with Izzy’s adjustment to the rural farming conditions from a previous rich city life and Audrey’s brave decision to work for the selfish pig farmer; even little Harper realises that the world is not just fun and games. Despite the Flute family despising Vandery Cable, Audrey, transitioning into the role of a mature and dedicated second mother, takes this burden upon herself as she values her family’s welfare over her own. The courage and bravery needed to fill the shoes of the previous dependent characters shows how the next generation is helping to ease to hardships faced by the community. Being brave and facing ones fears is the only way to achieve anything in these merciless times and by Audrey facing her fears for the benefit of her family, we can see her develop from a young and naive teenager into a mature and independent adult. The bravery and sacrifices made by the young generation to support
By: Xander Dell Book: New Kid Author: Tim Green Book genre: Realistic Fiction Quote: “Be careful what you wish for” Summary: A kid named Brock and his dad are moving around because there was a warrant out for Brock's dad and they would kill Brock if he did not turn himself in. When he gets to his new school he gets in a fight then becomes friends with the kid. Brock is only in eighth grade and is a giant for a kid.
Did you notice how less confused you are with honest love, faith, and works, as God's path is quite direct and crystal clear?
Jane Godwin's book, 'Falling from Grace', explores the extent that each of the main characters grow in maturity. Maturity is not determined by age, but by the experiences that a person has which effects how far someone grows. We observe the main characters; Annie, Kip, Grace and Ted in their growth in maturity and how people still stay the same even into adulthood. As the characters mature, they can also see others in the different way, thinking the other has changed, but in reality, the change is within themselves. These are fundamental aspects of 'Falling from Grace'.
In Matthee’s novel, Fiela’s Child, the main character, Lukas/Benjamin, battles back and forth with his identity, however the author is able to establish the idea that one’s personal identity can be established through the environment that one grows up with rather than what skin color one has, and because of Matthee’s use of personification, symbols, and imagery, she is able to set forth this idea in the near end of the novel.
Robert McElvaine’s passage “Loss of Childhood”, explains how the Great Depression affected both children and their families. For example the hardships many families faced during the Great Depression led children to assume responsibilities an earlier age. When mothers were forced to get jobs, older children were given the responsibility of looking after younger siblings.’’ The children had take on the work.
The strong characters of Francie Nolan, her mother Katie, her brother Neely, and her aunt Sissy were all extremely dynamic and I was able to see the many sides of their personalities and thoughts throughout the novel. Her father Johnny was a more static character however, and we were only able to see him through Francie Nolan’s eyes. Francie, the complex, main character was bright, joyful, and had an observant view of the world, while still remembering where she came from. This classic story also contained all the necessary features of plot such as conflict, a climax, and a strong conclusion. Conflict was provided through the poverty of the Nolan family, the alcoholism of the father, and the fight to educate Francie and her brother. The climax hits, when Francie begins to lose her innocence and wonders about the cruelty of the world, and the story ends with a fulfilling wrapped up conclusion. Most of the family members conflicts fade and Francie Nolan’s internal conflicts
In the book Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow, the theme of determination stands out to the main characters in the book as well as the reader. Proving to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that Marcus, Van, Jolu, and Darryl were not in the wrong definitely was a challenge. The things they had to do were very crucial. It started off with them not knowing anything about what had happened with the terrorist attack, to being innocent until proven guilty, and lastly to them being the only hope to DHS for finding evidence and winning their victory.
Jumping to the year 1937 at the end of the Great Depression, we witness the tale of a single mother, Amanda her son, Tom, and daughter, Laura. A mother who’s trying to push her daughter into marriage and shoving her son to work while also trying to relive her glory days, a rinse-repeat story in those days. You were either male and slaved in factories for pay like Tom or female and raised to be a housewife to marry a wealthy man. Tom’s an aspiring poet who works in a warehouse while his sister isolates herself because of her shyness and bad leg, and their mother is woman looking for wealth whether her or her daughter acquires it. Amanda sends her son out to find a man for Laura and he brings back Jim O’Connor. Lo and behold, Jim apparently had been Laura’s high school crush. A dinner ensues with the family, ending with an awkward exchange between Jim and Laura where they kiss and it is revealed that Jim has a fiancée. Jim leaves and Amada blames Tom, who eventually loses his job and skips town on them. Another ‘great time period’ where life for most wasn’t well. Yet authors try to shed light on it wherever possible.
In the Greek myth “The Four Ages”, current society is best represented by the fourth and final age, known as the Iron Age. This is because in the world today, countries are constantly fighting wars with other countries and people with other people; they’re also hurting the earth for their own gain and never content with what they have. In the myth, it says, “Men spread their sails to winds unknown to sailors” (The Four Ages 46). Today, people are constantly exploring and conquering and trying to reach new places, like outer space. Humans have already discovered all of the land on Earth, but they are still trying to expand their horizons ever further. Later on in the myth it says, “War came forth that uses [iron] to fight with: bloody hands brandishing
Audrey’s actions also defy the traditionally accepted views of womanly behaviour both in 1943 and 1979.Additionally her behaviour contrasts the belief that children should be seen and not heard, demonstrated by Audrey’s resistance to being the demeaning role of Angela’s “naughty daughter” in scene five. However both behaviours being defied by Audrey are made less shocking as she is played by a grown woman. By doing this Potter shows that children are as able as adults to communicate concerns but are often ignored because an adults reaction is “Immediately pushing it back to
] "My brother was my best friend during training, and it's been hard working without him, but I'll manage."
Throughout their journey, the father and the boy experience many horrific events that the common eight year old would not be able to handle, which causes the boy to loose his innocence very quickly. While traveling, the father carved a flute for the boy, but the beautiful music from the flute does not play for long. "What happened to your flute? I threw it away. You threw it away? Yes" (McCarthy 159). This startling decision that the boy made shows that he has gotten over the flute, which represents his innocence. His innocence has been lost because has seen people eat infants, walked past charred skeletons, felt the impact of starvation, and much more. All of these nightmarish events have culminated into the boy's innocence collapsing along
Imagine living as a motherless farmgirl during a time when horrendous dust storms would occur. Not only do you not have a mother and are living in a terrible environment, but at the same time, you are living during The Great Depression. Billie Jo Kelby in, “Out of the Dust” by, Karen Hesse, had to deal with these painful events as a teenager. She has been in a terrible accident that took her mother’s life and scarred Billie Jo forever. To make matters worse, Daddy is so heartbroken by his wife’s death, that he can’t talk about it with Billie Jo and the two almost separate from each other until Billie Jo runs away but then comes back and reunites with Daddy. Billie Jo is friendly with the people she loves, sorrowful
She is yet to become selfish. Contrary to Dee, she carries an ugly face “Ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs”, and the mother says that she has to pay attention to her so that she may feel loved and appreciated despite her looks. She decides to live with the mother at home, “She thinks her sister had held life always in the in the palm of one hand”, and she has no taste of the outside world. Due to this fact, being independent denies her access to an education, something that makes her different from her sister Dee who is already an intelligent girl. In fact, the mother feels the level of shyness and the disadvantage that she have encounter in life,” have driven her like a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by someone careless”. The mother states that she is not bright as compared to Dee, and that makes her miss opportunities that come her
The children in this story are spoiled and mean, especially the young Bloomfields. Mary Ann is a pure terror, not that Tom seems to be much better, but he is just mean. When Agnes describes the screeching Mary Ann does to get her way out of her lessons, it made me cringe. How did Agnes put up with that for as long as she did. Then on top of it she had to deal with Tom. Tom is just evil. What child goes around killing birds? I certainly do not and I also do not know any children who do. It is just plain cruel. Franny, I believe at least, was still innocent when Agnes left. She only did the horrible things she did because of her siblings either told her to or her siblings were already doing it. There was not much on Franny, but I could see her growing up to be just as horrible as her siblings. I questioned how these children could be so misbehaved before Agnes even really started to teach them, but it was made clear fairly quickly that it was the adults in their life. The two people that stood out the most were Mrs. Bloomfield and Uncle Robson. Mrs. Bloomfield was consistently scolding Agnes about the children's poor behavior when she would not allow Agnes anyway to correct the behavior and would not correct it herself. She also had the nerve to fire Agnes with the reason that the children were misbehaved because of Agnes’s teaching. I get how mothers think their children are perfect, but come on, these children are like little devils, when their father is not around. The father seemed to be the only person who could keep them in line it seemed. Then there was Uncle Robson. How dare