1) I believe that when it says that she put it away gently and ruthlessly that the gently is referring to the way in which she was actually putting it away and the ruthlessly is more about what the saddle stood for. She puts the saddle away almost like Chris's personality. He was gentle and ruthless.
2) Chris was a character that you got to know very well. He was determined, very strong willed and extremely optimistic. Chris had a unique ability to be able to take his mind out of a place that he did not want to be. He had a very vivid imagination and was extremely good with his hands. Chris was a very different kind of character, he did change in the story but only in age. From the beginning of the story to the end Chris is always the same. Always holding on and hoping that everything will get better.Chris is definatly someone to whom everyone can relate to and this makes it easy to sympithize for him. You will always have people in the world that dont think you are good enough. Everyone has some way to deal with people and their negative attitudes. Although in almost every case, just like chris, people often create places in their mind that they can go when things get to hard. In chris's case you can feel symathey for him because everyone has had hard times and bad times. Everyone at some point in their lives has felt like they could not do it but with chris he never stops trying. I think that is why it is easy to symathize for him because you can see all of his potential and yet it all goes to waste.
3)Vanessa was a dynamic character. Although it did not seem like she was changing you as the reader can see that she is becoming older and more understanding. She is finally becoming a women. Which is what she wanted all the way through the story. Also the way that she feels about Chris kind of changes throughout the story. She goes from a friendship or crush to possible being in love with him.
4)I believe that the saddle represents Chris's world that he lives in. The saddle is a symbol of the place that Chris goes to get away from the world. In the letter he sent back to Vanessa he says that he is not even in his body anymore and I believe that the saddle is that part of Chris the imagination, the whole other world that he goes to when times get to hard to handle.
Kayla, you have some very mature and insightful answers here. Don't forget to hit the spell check button before you post. I know it seems like English teachers are overly fussy about that sort of stuff, but given the choice I think we're all more likely to listen or give credence to writers who have the basics down.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, the things I'm referring to are easily fixed like: 'sympathize' for 'symathize' and 'definitely' for 'definatly.' What is so much more difficult for me to teach is an interest in serious writing and the ability to intuitively negotiate literal and figurative meanings. And you've demonstrated a strong ability to do just that.