How do themes tie with books?

Author’s Note: This essay is about theme. I’m going to describe theme and basically how it will tie together with the books, Chains and Because of Anya. The theme I’m going to be explaining in this essay to compare two books is courage

            In each book there is a couple or one clear theme.  A theme describes and/or sums up what the book is about. For example; the theme in the book, Chains, is mainly courage, and having faith and confidence.

No doubt, that courage, faith, and confidence are themes throughout a handful of novels, but it shows up especially in the two novels, Chains and Because of Anya.

In the situation with the book Chains, the main characters, Isabel and Ruth, just went through a rough time.  The Girl’s mother and owner, Miss Mary Finch,  just died, and Miss Mary Finch’s will had said, that they are too be let free when she dies. But, that is not what happened, Miss Mary’s nephew claimed that the girl’s were to be his slaves; they had an argument with the priest, the girls, and Miss Mary’s nephew.  He took the girl’s and he sold them to these snobby, stuck up, rich people, who are really mean… This is not what Isabel and Ruth wanted, at all! That is just one main conflict that they ran into.  Since the girls’ mother and former owner died, Ruth and Isabel are to be sold instead of being free. If they hadn’t gone to the priest and asked him where they should go, they would’ve ‘escaped’ this whole conflict, but they probably would’ve been found and people would start to wonder where they are, and why are there two little slave girls running around, trying to find a home.

            On the other hand, the book, Because of Anya, is about a girl named Anya Seaver, who has a disease, which involves hair loss.  She gets embarrassed because she has to wear a wig and she doesn’t want to go to school, just in case someone notices and decides to pull on it. She does completely fine with the wig for about two weeks, but the day after Christmas break, her class had gym and they were doing gymnastics… She felt completely fine after she did cartwheels, but then when it came to somersaults, she was scared to death. So she tried, she did one, two, then her last one she did perfect, but she stood up and everybody was silent and staring right at her head, her wig had fallen off! But how? Everybody thought the mean girl, Steph had pulled it, but did she really? No, Anya’s hair had caught on the mat.

            Anya grabbed her wig and ran.  She never stopped she just kept going; she ran out of the school and headed towards home. When she got there she was crying, she was home for two weeks, because she was embarrassed. But she came back to school, one day and she explained to the class that she doesn’t have cancer, she has a disease that is not contagious and can be cured, after that, Anya’s class, and Steph, were very supportive of Anya.

            These two books have similarities and differences that ties with the themes, Courage, Faith, and Confidence. The similarities would be, in both books these girls, have to have courage, they have to keep going and try. Anya has to have lots of confidence to go to school and not worry about her wig. Isabel and Ruth have confidence that they will be free, and they will turn out just find, and hope that they might find good parents/owners who love them, so it would be like they actually had a family.  Some differences would be, in Because Of Anya, when you think of themes, you wouldn’t necessarily think of the theme, Faith. That’s because she needs more courage, and confidence.  In Chains you would be more likely to say faith as a theme because that is what they need to keep going with their lives.

            This is my understanding of how themes can have similarities and differences with books. I hope you learned a little bit of how you can describe themes and why themes are needed when you write a book, or even read a book.  Themes help a reader understand better of what they are reading.

How Does Cause & Effect Relate To The Book,  Chains?

Authors Note: This is an essay about the Cause & Effect of the Historical Fiction book, Chains.

        In this situation, the main characters, Isabel and Ruth, just went through a rough time.  The Girl’s mother and owner, Miss Mary Finch,  just died, and Miss Mary Finch’s will had said, that they are too be let free when she dies. But, that is not what happened, Miss Mary’s nephew claimed that the girl’s were to be his slaves, they had a argument with the priest, the girls, and Miss Mary’s nephew.  He took the girl’s and he sold them to these snobby, stuck up, rich people, who are really mean… This is not what Isabel and Ruth wanted, at all!

       

        Since the girls’ mother and former owner died, Ruth and Isabel are to be sold instead of being free. If they hadn’t gone to the priest and asked him where they should go, they would’ve ‘escaped’ this whole conflict, but they probably would’ve been found and people would start to wonder where they are, and why are there two little slave girls running around, trying to find a home.

       

        I chose to compare this cause and effect of the story because it was confusing to me at first, until I read more of the story.  Basically, the main cause and effect of the story was, since they went to the priest and talked to him, and since their mother and Miss Mary Finch had died, they had to be sold and continue being slaves, but with a couple that was very rude to the girls’.   This is my understanding of cause and effect.

What is Ruth's Point of View?

                       

Authors Note: This is an essay about an event from the book, Chains, and about how a character’s point of view.

        Isabel and Ruth are African American slaves, whose owner just died.  Their owner secretly taught them how to read and write, so she had Isabel read her will out loud to her, and Isabel knew exactly what was on it. 

        One day, Isabel and Ruth went up to the priest and asked them where they should go, the priest was very confused, and the girls had explained that the will had said that they would be free.  The owner’s nephew had come to take the girls that moment and he was disagreeing and said that he gets the girls. They tried to settle it and get to the will but they couldn’t because the lawyer had been out of town.

The owner’s nephew said, “The girls are lying, they knew the lawyer was out of    town, and they are making up a fib!”

Isabel disagreed greatly, and said, “No! I saw the will; it said that we are to be FREE!”

Again the owner’s nephew said, “How do you know? You can’t even read or write! I should beat you for lying, girl!” after that statement, Isabel sure would’ve said something horrific, but Ruth had stopped her and just said, “Let it go, don’t let it get to you.”

        That specific part of the story states and shows that Isabel is surely an open, and loud person, and speaks what she knows, and is confident in an argument and likes to argue, on the other hand, Ruth is quiet, more closed person, who doesn’t like to argue and is kind of scared. I think that Ruth doesn’t want to get into anything, she just wants to run, and have everything go back the way it was.  That’s basically her point of view at this point, she doesn’t like how it is, she just wants her mom, and Miss Mary Finch, and everything to be the way it was.

        In this situation, Ruth would feel as if she was smaller than Isabel with personality because she’s not speaking up as much.