Authors Note: This piece of writing is a comparative essay comparing and contrasting characters from the two novels that I am currently reading War Comes to Willy Freeman and Shug.
Imagine being a teenage girl, alone, on your own if you ever need help .Either your parents are fighting and won’t pay attention to you, or one of them is dead and the other got taken as a slave. There are many similarities between the two books War Comes to Willy Freeman and Shug. In the book Shug, Annemarie’s dad is barely ever home because of work, and when he is, he and Annemarie’s mom are fighting constantly, they are too busy fighting that they don’t pay attention to her. In the book War Comes to Willy Freeman a young girl named Willy saw her dad get stabbed by the British during the Revolutionary War; her mother also got taken as a slave, now Willy has no one, so she goes to find her mom… alone.
One of the main similarities between the two books is that both girls are going through life alone without their parents to help them. Although most teenage girls don’t like having their parents getting in their business, it would still be nice to have them pay attention to you for once. Annemarie is not an only child; she has her older sister named Celia, but she is never home. Celia is always either hanging out with her new boyfriend or hanging out with her best friend Margaret. Annemarie’s best friend Elaine just got a new boyfriend and is forgetting who her real best friend is.
Second of all, another thing the two novels have in common is both of the main characters from both books are searching for something. Throughout War Comes to Willy Freeman , Willy is looking for her mother that had been captured and taken to New York as a prisoner, she would do anything to find her even if it involves dressing as a boy. Within Shug, Annemarie is looking for “love”, she had been crushing on her old best friend Mark and is dreaming for him to kiss her. Mark does not like Annemarie but little does she know the boy that is always mean to her does named Jack. In both of these books, they both find what they are looking for. Annemarie starts liking Jack back, and soon she receives her first kiss from him, and Willy finds her mother. Unfortunately her mother was sick and dies but luckily she got to see her before that.
Of course there are many differences throughout these books. First off, the time period is a huge one. War Comes to Willy Freeman was while during the Revolutionary war had been going on. In Shug the time period is definitely modern day, everything is perfectly normal, beautiful summer days. Another difference is Annemarie gets to find love, kid love, the kind of love Willy will never get to experience because it wasn’t right back then to have crushes on someone when you’re that young, especially if you are black.
Overall, there are lots of similarities, and many differences between these two novels. As said before, both girls have found what they have been looking for all along. For Willy it is her mother, and for Annemarie it is love. One of my favorite quotes relates to this one little similarity, “Never give up on anybody” by Hubert H. Humphrey. This quote is telling us that we shouldn’t give up on someone, such as finding love, or finding your mother.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Finding Mom
Authors Note: This piece is about what the main conflict and resolution is throughout the novel War Comes to Willy Freeman.
War Comes to Willy Freeman, by James Lincoln and Christopher Collier is about a young girl named Willy going on a long search to find her mother. Willy’s mom vanished from their house but Willy discovers that she had been taken by the Redcoats to be a slave in New York. Willy’s dad had gotten stabbed by the British during the Revolutionary War and is now dead. Even though Willy is alone, her mission is to dress like a boy and travel to New York to find her mother. Finding Willy’s mother is one of the main conflicts throughout the story.
In the novel the resolution would be that she finds her mother, her mother was kept at the Ivers in New York. But eventually her mother becomes sick and weak and after a while she soon dies. Luckily Willy got to see her mom and talk to her before she passed or that would have been a waste of time. Willy and I are alike because we would do anything to find our mom which includes traveling throughout the state to be with her.
War Comes to Willy Freeman, by James Lincoln and Christopher Collier is about a young girl named Willy going on a long search to find her mother. Willy’s mom vanished from their house but Willy discovers that she had been taken by the Redcoats to be a slave in New York. Willy’s dad had gotten stabbed by the British during the Revolutionary War and is now dead. Even though Willy is alone, her mission is to dress like a boy and travel to New York to find her mother. Finding Willy’s mother is one of the main conflicts throughout the story.
In the novel the resolution would be that she finds her mother, her mother was kept at the Ivers in New York. But eventually her mother becomes sick and weak and after a while she soon dies. Luckily Willy got to see her mom and talk to her before she passed or that would have been a waste of time. Willy and I are alike because we would do anything to find our mom which includes traveling throughout the state to be with her.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Point of View within the Eyes of a Brave Girl
Author's Note:This piece of writing is the point of view of Willy from "War Comes to Willy Freeman"
In “War Comes to Willy Freeman”, a teenage girl, Willy experiences a life changing situation, her father’s death and the absence of her mother. The Redcoats stabbed her father to death and on Willy’s way home she notices her mother has been taken by the British as a prisoner in New York. Willy disguises as a boy and goes on an adventure to find her mother.
One way Willy’s point of view influences the reader's interpretation is how this perspective shows that the Redcoats are very cruel people. It was very terrifying to see the British barge into the fort and watch the Redcoats take everyone out, including Willy’s father. Willy showed bravery while facing this scene in the book; Willy sat there in the corner experiencing the death of everyone. What if she was next? Wouldn’t you be scared? She sat there not knowing what would happen next, but luckily she made it.
I would see a whole different perspective if I was looking through the eyes of Willy’s mother throughout the novel. For instance, the readers would still think badly about the British because they took her mother as a prisoner, but we would be able to imagine what the other prisoners were like, and if they were black to. Was it a racial thing? Or did they just take whoever they could find? Also, we would be able to see the things they said to her mother before/while they were taking her, or if they said why they were taking her.
Obviously, in “War Comes to Willy Freeman” Willy’s perspective makes the reader see one side of a story, it also makes us believe that the Redcoats are the “bad guys”. This novel personally showed the readers that Willy is very strong; he survived without parents and made an effort to find his mother because she loves her. I think that if the point of view was from the eyes of the mother the book would give us a better understanding of how the British treated prisoners. Overall it was showed a great adventure and it also had an emotional side.
In “War Comes to Willy Freeman”, a teenage girl, Willy experiences a life changing situation, her father’s death and the absence of her mother. The Redcoats stabbed her father to death and on Willy’s way home she notices her mother has been taken by the British as a prisoner in New York. Willy disguises as a boy and goes on an adventure to find her mother.
One way Willy’s point of view influences the reader's interpretation is how this perspective shows that the Redcoats are very cruel people. It was very terrifying to see the British barge into the fort and watch the Redcoats take everyone out, including Willy’s father. Willy showed bravery while facing this scene in the book; Willy sat there in the corner experiencing the death of everyone. What if she was next? Wouldn’t you be scared? She sat there not knowing what would happen next, but luckily she made it.
I would see a whole different perspective if I was looking through the eyes of Willy’s mother throughout the novel. For instance, the readers would still think badly about the British because they took her mother as a prisoner, but we would be able to imagine what the other prisoners were like, and if they were black to. Was it a racial thing? Or did they just take whoever they could find? Also, we would be able to see the things they said to her mother before/while they were taking her, or if they said why they were taking her.
Obviously, in “War Comes to Willy Freeman” Willy’s perspective makes the reader see one side of a story, it also makes us believe that the Redcoats are the “bad guys”. This novel personally showed the readers that Willy is very strong; he survived without parents and made an effort to find his mother because she loves her. I think that if the point of view was from the eyes of the mother the book would give us a better understanding of how the British treated prisoners. Overall it was showed a great adventure and it also had an emotional side.
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