Reading Response #2

Reading Response #2

What if you were sent to an island with a bunch of strangers, but someone is murdering each one, and the identity of the murderer is unknown to you? This is the situation that the characters of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie find themselves in. The many characters stuck on the island react to this terrifying case in many different ways. Some are excited for an adventure, some wait to accept their imminent death, but one woman, Vera Claythorne, gets very, very worried. So worried that she goes insane. Vera changes from being a well-minded person at the beginning, to being quite a bit insane by the end.

At the beginning, Vera is serious with a stable mind. She is ready to go to the island, not expecting the impending doom that it holds. By the first few deaths, Vera is shaken up, but still keeps her head about her, nothing close to insane. In fact, Philip Lombard, another person trapped on the island, literally says to her, “I don’t fancy that there’s anything insane about you, Vera. You strike me as the most levelheaded girls I’ve come across.” It is shown here clearly that Vera is a stable minded woman at the beginning of the book.

Throughout the story, Vera loses her mind as more and more people loses their lives. One sign of this is that she will bust into a hysterical laughing fit in the middle of serious conversations. For example, in the middle of talking to Emily Brent, another person on the island, about the previous murders Philip Lombard has committed, a very serious topic, Vera suddenly says, “Oh, I’m going to laugh. I’m hysterical. I’m not myself....” By saying the words “I’m not myself”, she points out that she is not the same as she would normally act, and certainly not the same as how she was at the beginning of the book. Overall, this shows how Vera is going insane throughout the book.

At the end, Vera goes so crazy that she hangs herself. After the last person is murdered and she is the only person left on the island, she gets this strange feeling that Hugo, her ex-boyfriend that she still loves, is in the house. When she gets to her room, there is mysteriously a noose and chair in it. Vera thinks to herself, “A rope with a noose all ready? And a chair to stand upon - a chair that can be kicked away… That was what Hugo wanted…” Hugo would want nothing of the sort! Hugo wouldn’t want her to take her own life. But she does it. She hangs herself and dies, convinced by her rattled-up brain that it’s what Hugo wants. So in the end, Vera is definitely insane.

In conclusion, Vera goes insane throughout the book, started out perfectly fine, and in the end so deranged she takes her own life. Vera really shows what anxiety and stress can do to someone, especially someone placed in such a chilling situation.

Reading Response #1

Reading Response #1

The book Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez is about a pre-teen girl named Anita living in the Dominican Republic in the 1960s. She lives with her big family in a family compound, but throughout the story, many family members leave. This is to escape the tyranny of El Jeffe, the dictator of the Dominican Republic. Anita and her family hate El Jeffe, so much so that Anita’s father and uncles make a plan to murder him, and eventually succeed in doing so. The story follows Anita’s point of view as she adapts to growing up in this chaotic environment. Throughout the story, Anita’s family’s maid, Chucha, has dreams that can tell the future. This makes Chucha a very mystical figure. She also represents many of the feelings Anita feels as she matures. The feelings that Anita experiences that Chucha represents are hope, mystery, and anxiety.

First of all, Chucha represents Anita’s feeling of hope. In the story, Chucha has a dream that predicts who will get to escape the Dominican Republic. In it, as Anita describes it, “First Lucinda [her sister], then Mundín [her brother], then Mama and I sprouted wings and flew up into the sky.” As stated, Anita is last to leave, and, sure enough, she is last to leave in the story. This represents Anita’s hope because throughout the story, as her other family members leave before her, she reminds herself that she’ll get to leave too, thinking of this dream and staying hopeful to herself. Overall, this is why Chucha represents Anita’s feeling of hope.

Second of all, Chucha represents Anita’s feeling of suspicion. At the beginning of the book, Anita doesn’t know of her father’s and uncles’ plan yet, or even of the terrible things El Jeffe’s done. But since the rest of her family does, she gets suspicious when they stop talking as she enters a room or meet with each other secretly in another part of the compound. Whenever events like this happen and Anita asks Chucha why, Chucha will respond, “Mi secreto, tu silencio,” meaning my secret, your silence. This is a very vague and suspicious response, just telling Anita to keep quiet about the subject. Another reason why Chucha represents suspicion is because she is just a very weird and suspicious person in general. She sleeps in a coffin and wears purple clothes every single day. This sometimes gives the compound an eerie and suspicious feeling when Chucha’s around. All these things show how Chucha represents Anita’s feeling of suspicion.

Lastly, Chucha represents Anita’s feeling of anxiety. Going through her pre-teen years in the compound, full of plans of murder and the heartbreak of families leaving, it would be natural for Anita to feel anxiety. Chucha represents this anxiety by worrying for the family and trying to keep calm, just as Anita is doing. In one scene towards the end of the book, Chucha is seen praying. This is a way she calms her nerves. She says, “San Miguel, . . . protect this house from all enemies. Expel the bad. Bring all to safety who dwell within. Amen.” Praying to protect the house and to bring safety are the things she wants since she is anxious they’re not safe. This is why Chucha represents Anita’s feeling of suspicion.

In conclusion, in the book Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez, the character Chucha represents Anita’s feelings of hope, suspicion, anxiety. The way Anita grows up is probably one of the hardest ways for a young woman to grow up. The feelings that a girl her age would experience in real life are magnified even stronger by the craziness around her. It’s nice to have a woman like Chucha to understand.