Reading Chapters 4-10 was an interesting but also intimidating experience. There were points in the narrative that I noticed there was a point where they were almost glorifying the experience of going through prison, envisioning their suffering as proof of their heroism in terms of the revolution. There was definitely a climax in terms of the violence, and a deeper sense of fear settled in for the main character’s environment. Fear develops as her friends and others decide to leave the country. Larger issues such as disparity in social class is also highlighted.
Her farewell to her uncle was an additional significant shift I think in her childhood. A man who had grown into a figure for her to idolize. Another significant point in the interactions is how she eventually tells God to get out of her head later in the same chapter (9). Her mother’s experiences in Chapter 10 also strike a significantly darker shift now as the author continues to get older and older. In the art, she looks different than she did a year ago. Perhaps that is to reflect the change.
In terms of the Book Arts Studio, I thought it was an interesting and enrichening experience. Although my story was much more simple in nature and simply tlls a story about the Sun, the Moon, and an Eclipse, it was a fun activity that also gets me thinking about how I’ll eventually transition my personal story from oral into picture-book form.
Self Note:
“Image that Illustrates a Metaphor:” “They burned him with an iron” (pg. 49) — Not a literal iron as in the appliance, as her younger child-like mind thinks.
“Image that Illustrates Internal Thought:” I thought my Father was dead (pg. 28)