Symbolism

Symbolism is used by many authors, as a way to represent a certain object or thing. For example, in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club, she used a swan in the beginning parable, as an object of symbolism. The swan represented all of the hopes and dreams that she had for the future. On page 313 in my book, when Ruth went to visit Mr. Salmon, Mrs. Salmon and Lindsey, were gathering daffodils to take home. I think that these daffodils represented happiness and hope, since the Salmons' wanted to take it home. In this book, there are many chaotic events that leave the Salmon family shattered, some of which include: Susie's death, the leaving of Mrs. Salmon, and the heart attack that Mr. Salmon experienced. So, when I read that the Salmon's were gathering the daffodils to take home, I believe that they were a symbol for happiness, and the hopes of restoring their family.

Father & Son Argument

^This image was chosen to depict a scene occurring between Buckley, and Mr. Salmon on page 256, chapter 18.^

Buckley was making over the garden that his mother once cared for, and decided that he needed stakes for his tomato plants. He went down to the basement and brought up a box of old, worn things. Inside was a pile of Susie’s clothes. Upon realizing that his daughters clothes were in the box, Mr. Salmon quietly took it out of the box and clutched it close in his arms. Buckley, then asked why he couldn't use the clothes to make the stakes, and his father stood there in shock. Buckley then started yelling at his dad about not getting over Susie's death and the arguing continued. At the end of their loud conversations, Mr. Salmon fell to his knees, because he had a heart attack.

So, this picture was chosen to represent the arguing that was going on between Mr. Salmon and Buckley because it shows a father and son yelling at each other.

Susie Salmon Was My Sister

Lindsey Salmon, is Susie Salmon's sister. At the news of Susie's death, the Salmon family was shattered. All of Susie's friends and family couldn't believe what had happened. It seemed as if all hope was lost. The poem below was written by me, in the position of Lindsey Salmon. If I were in Lindsey's place, I would have read this poem at Susie's funeral as a tribute to her.

Susie Salmon was my sister,
A best friend and a loved one.

Her smile could light up a room,
Her eyes forever glistened.

She had soft shiny hair,
And was always there for me.

One day her life was taken away and ruined the lives of those she loved,
Someone who can feel no other emotion but hate brutally hurt my sister and shattered my family.

That happy smile will never be seen again,
Those bright eyes will never glisten.

Her wavy hair will no longer blow in the breeze,
Now, who will be there for me?

She will be greatly missed and never forgotten,
For Susie Salmon, was my wonderful and loving sister.

Susie Salmon- Will Always Be Missed

I just read 100 pages of the book, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. So far the book is really interesting and it makes me want to continue reading. What keeps my interest, is the protagonist, Susie Salmon. All of the events that she goes through are really life changing, so reading about them makes you imagine about what would happen to you if you were in her position.
Susie Salmon was an avergae 14 year old teenage girl, that unfortunately got brutally raped, murdered and butchered. Now, she resides in Heaven watching over all of the commotion going on, on Earth. She views her grieving parents, police trying to solve the murder, and her murderer trying to cover up his tracks.
I think Susie's actions before she died were very careless and that was why she was vulnerable. When she was going home, Mr Harvey (murderer) invited her into a hole in a cornfield and Susie actually went. What made it worse was that she took her coat off, sat down and drank a coke when he told her to. I don't those actions were smart ones because after that, she had no place to go and Mr. Harvey then raped her. If I were Susie I would've told Mr. Harvey that I had to go home immediately. This way, I wouldn't be open to attack.
This is a sample of one of my favorite quotes from the book:

" A father's suspicion...Is as powerful as a mother's intuition"- Ryana Singh

This quote was spoken by Ruana Singh, Ray Singh's(Susie's boyfriend) mother .
I liked this quote because Mr. Salmon suspected Mr. Harvey to be the murderer because of his weird behavior when Susie's name was said. No one had really suspected him but now all that Mr. Salmon thinks about is proving Mr. Harvey guilty. Ruana Singh was the first person that started to agree with him.
Overall, this weeks reading was very intersting and I am hoping to read about clues that will prove that Mr. Harvey is guilty and the Salmon's can now be able to live more peacefully truthfully knowing, that thier daughter is in Heaven.

The Lovely Bones

For my independant reading, I chose to read the book called The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I became interested in this book because i read the summary of the plot of this book on google.com. Out of reading this book, i hope to get surprised and i hope that the events will keep me interested. Aftre researching about Alice Sebold, I found out something about her, that is quite intersting. She wrote The Lovely Bones as a memoir of the time she was brutally raped, beaten, and attacked when she was just 18 yrs. old. This book has 328 pages so it will take me about three weeks to complete reading it. Overall, I hope to find The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold as interesting as it seems.
-Parvita