Time travel!
The words entered Doctor Melilot’s head, turning around like the wheels on a racing car. For the first time ever, he was about to embark on a journey back in time; well, seventy-five years, six days and eight hours to be precise.
And what would he find on the other side of the Chalk Gate?
Would the air taste different perhaps; clearer and crisper? Or would he smell cordite and burning flesh? Would bullets whistle past his ears? Would he need to duck for cover? After all, he was travelling back to the heart of the Great Seaboard Wars. At a time when men fought to survive, to protect their people and to defend their country. A time of trust and distrust. And, of course, a time of lies, spies, men in disguise, bully beef pies, and dog battles in the skies.
He would need to watch his back.
Barely a second later, he stood unscathed at the entrance to Smugglers Cave. Then much to his surprise, something small and compact slammed into his legs.
‘What on…?’
Time travel!
The words entered Clemmie’s head, turning around like the wheels on a number six bus. For a moment, when she stepped through the Chalk Gate, she let go, and her feet felt so light, it was as if she was dancing on a cloud. Who would believe she could travel seventy-five years into the past, back to the place where she belonged? Yet, she didn’t belong there. Not really. Deep in her heart, she knew her real home was now with Doctor Melilot and the other children at Chalk House.
A second later, she emerged
The book starts of by showing the reading with a small scene of children running along the train tacks one summer night, in this chapter we meet our two main characters nine year old Pharoah and Lafayette, as they experience one of the few peaceful days in their lives. In the next chapter we meet the children’s mother LaJoe who is described to be a beautiful, gentle woman who has been though too much. We also learn about the children home, an apartment complex known as Hery Horner Homes named after the Governor. In this chapter we also learn a bit more about LaJoe and her past life, and how she was
Lily Owens is a teenage girl who wishes her life was different. At the age of four Lily’s mother died after being shot. Everyday she wishes her mother would be there to protect her from an abusive father and a miserable life. Lily’s mother left very few possessions behind, only a picture and a mason jar. These items allowed Lily to feel safe. The memory of her mother helped her face each trial. She spent much of her life searching for a mother figure and recreating her mother’s story.
In the rural southern town of Wrongberight, one of its sixty-four residents, vivacious Clemmie Sue Jarvis, who stands 4 feet 3, and looks as if she weighs less than a hummingbird, turned fifty-nine last week. The townsfolk say she has less sense than the blessed Lord gave Johnny Homer’s jackass. In fact, this dent in her personality brightens up a dull day in Wrongberight. Today as the townsfolk were entering the Waylost Baptist Church for Sunday morning service they heard what transpired on Saturday night and instantly, their wagging tongues began to whisper Clemmie Sue’s name during Preacher Johnathan’s sermon.
In the rural southern town of Flat Holler, one of its sixty-four residents, Clemmie Sue Jarvis, who stands 4 feet 3 and looks as if she weighs less than a hummingbird, turned fifty-nine last spring. The locals admire her vivacious disposition and know that while their existence is mundane, Clemmie Sue’s is far from it.
There I sat and forgot why I made my long trip” (Welty 424). Without the setting of the doctor’s office and the nurse, Jackson’s loss of memory of such an important matter as the medicine needed for her ill grandson would not have been described. It reveals that she is not fully mentally balanced.
As she opened the door, she hoped to herself that the inside was nearly as well done, to her delight... it was. The carpenters had fully replaced the banister and painted it and the blood trail was gone from the hardwood. All of the workers were huddled inside the cafe sipping on some coffee, they appeared to be taking a break. Her heart began to race as she ran up the stairs, it was rounding on five and they couldn’t afford a break...or could they. Cleo froze on the top step, it was unimaginable. Every fleck of wall and every particle of dust was in its original condition. No blood, no knives, not a single atom out of place. In stunned silence, she paced the hardwood floor, she walked from the railing to the bathrooms. She wasn’t sure how
“The men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old man-servant--a combined gardener and cook--had seen in at least ten years.” Miss Emily and her house had become a monument to the Old South. The entire town went to go see Miss Emily’s burial, to go pay their respects to a way of life meeting its end. The Southern aristocracy had met its end and the time for a new South was now, reborn by carpetbaggers and freed slaves.
But then she found a real old book. This text shows that they never seen a real book before, so when she found it with her friend Tommy she was really excited to see what it said when Margie found that it was about school she questioned Tommy why they would write a book at school. He tells her that it’s not their kind of school but the school hundreds and hundreds of years ago, when Margie hears that she started to get very interested in the old days and was thinking about how the kids must have loved it in the old days. This shows that Margie would like to go to the olden days to see how the old schools looked like and experience what the kids did at the old school. And, in the text Tommy says “ Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher.
The Continued Persistance of Nostalgia This persistence of living in the past is quite visible to the reader as we progress through the story. After the family had embarked on their vacation road trip it was not long until the Grandmother had begun to speak about landmarks they were passing as well as scenes that she would like to paint. While the children were rather unamused by their grandmothers recanting of the past, the Grandmother was living in only her memory this is further reflected with how excited the Grandmother seems when passing an old family graveyard. “They passed a large cotton field with five or fix graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island.
Which is in vast contrast of her transient lifestyle that she had elected prior to her heroic return to Fingerbone, the fictional setting for the duration of this novel. Painted as struggling township based around the simplistic things such as the train schedule. Another reminder of loss in this family’s life, reminding them of the loss of their grandfather,” …had a job with the railroad by the time he reached his stop” (Robinson 5). Furthermore, her nieces feel as though their grandmother failed to teach the ideas of love “She had never taught them to be kind to her.” (Robinson 19) This will resonate throughout this story as they continue to unfold different chambers within the elusive life of their impromptu mother, Aunt
An urge to run came over him. When he willed himself to move, his limbs stiffened rendering him immobile. Then right before his eyes, a cloaked entity revealed itself. Its predatory crimson eyes glared back at him as it seized him by the neck with its claws piercing his flesh..
She finds a book about gravedigging by her brother’s grave and this is the impetus to her love of reading. Reading books reminds her of her deceased brother and her last day with her mother. Her foster parents teach her how to to read and through this she learns the magic of words.
He was trying to piece together a town plot all the while thinking how ludicrous that is when it hit him: he was in Mrs. Walker’s class too! He had written a letter with the rest of the class. What he couldn't remember was what it said. The more he tried to access his childhood, the more it eluded him. He remembered Mrs. Walker. He could recall how much trouble he was always in. He even unlocked the recollection of Amy Kessler: the first girl he had ever kissed. But the letter or what was written on it ran from his struggling mind. As he battled to remember, he glanced down at the lock, now twisting and flipping in his nervous hands. The violet glow was growing stronger. Why was everything different after Flemming read the letters? Why was his best friend not here? Why was Mike rich? Questions began swirling around faster and faster. Tom had to grab the stage to steady his weakening knees. He closed his eyes in an attempt to calm his mind and nerves. The questions still dug at the back of his mind like gnawing
He started down the mountain and his legs gave beneath him. Even with great care the best he could do was astagger”
Who would've thought time traveling was possible? I didn't, not until I found my dad's suitcase. It was a cold day in Los Angeles, my mom and I were cleaning the garage piling all of my dad's old stuff together. It would've been easier to deal with his death if he didn't passed away a year ago. No one knew about his death or anything that's why there was no news about it until now. I kept thinking to myself "man, I've only talked to him twice in my life and now he's gone forever. I wish I could just see him one more time." As i start to space out, my mom yelled "stop spacing out and help me with these boxes dude!" Panicking, "Ok, ok!" She lets out a huge sigh and pulls out a black suitcase, "Hm, I've never seen this suitcase