Sadie Larson
Mr. Perry
AP Eng. Lit. Per. 6
15 October 2014
“The Memory Keeper’s Daughter”
1. a. In The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, written by Kim Edwards, the prominent characters are David Henry and Caroline Gill. Both characters contribute to the greatest incident that occurred throughout the whole story: the transferring of David’s down syndrome daughter, Phoebe, to the nurse Caroline Gill. In the middle of a blizzard filled night, in 1964, David and his wife Norah methodically traveled to the hospital that David worked as a doctor at. Norah was in the middle of having a natural birth. Caroline Gill, who was David’s nurse, was able to make it on that night. All of them expected a healthy baby and on the first few pushes a baby boy named Paul …show more content…
b. The major act of David giving up Phoebe and Caroline accepting his actions was pertinent to every single event that went on in the story. His action caused Paul to never have a sister and therefore have all of David’s expectations pressured against him. David’s action also caused Norah to be sent down a hole in life that she could never completely escape from. David was sent into a separate room, metaphorically speaking, from anyone that he associated with because he could not admit to having given up his daughter. Caroline had to leave town in order to escape from the scandal that could ensue with her sudden appearance with a baby. The choices that David and Caroline made after the major incident further sent the lives of those around them and their own into a spiral. Norah felt a wall separating her from David for the rest of their lives together because David held the secret of their daughter actually being alive. Because of the wall, their marriage silently fell apart. The silence that they shared caused Norah to become a more dynamic character and have more of an opinion and self-dependence than at the beginning of the story. The silence then affected their son, Paul, by leaving him with a disconnected family environment with hidden love. Also, David had extra expectations for Paul to make up for the loss that David felt. Caroline’s decision caused David to be constantly reminded of his daughter because Caroline sent letters and photographs of the years as Phoebe …show more content…
The two main characters were David Henry McAlister and Caroline Gill. David came from an extremely poor family. His sister, June, was born with down syndrome. Because of this, David was dealt with a lot of responsibility to raise money for the family as well as look after his sister. When his sister died at the age of twelve he was instilled with a deep desire to help others, make a difference. He was admitted to big city college after high school and was thankful for the escape. The admittance letter did not have his last name McAlister, and so he went on with the rest of his life as simply David Henry. The error allowed him to be free from the poor past that he was so ashamed of remembering. David then met Norah at the age of thirty three in a department store and married her three months afterwards. David is a tall sturdy man. He is a doctor at the local clinic. He is a kind man that wants to help others who are in need. He is very meticulous both in his practice and everyday life as can be seen when he follows the speed limits and lights when driving his wife to the hospital. After Norah gives him a camera about a year after the birth of Paul and Phoebe David become enveloped with taking photography. The novel portrays his passion as being an attempt to capture a piece of life like how that one moment he gave up his daughter was captured in his mind. Photography did become more than a passion for him and he even was featured in art galleries for his work. Throughout
Mr. Perry
AP Eng. Lit. Per. 6
15 October 2014
“The Memory Keeper’s Daughter”
1. a. In The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, written by Kim Edwards, the prominent characters are David Henry and Caroline Gill. Both characters contribute to the greatest incident that occurred throughout the whole story: the transferring of David’s down syndrome daughter, Phoebe, to the nurse Caroline Gill. In the middle of a blizzard filled night, in 1964, David and his wife Norah methodically traveled to the hospital that David worked as a doctor at. Norah was in the middle of having a natural birth. Caroline Gill, who was David’s nurse, was able to make it on that night. All of them expected a healthy baby and on the first few pushes a baby boy named Paul …show more content…
b. The major act of David giving up Phoebe and Caroline accepting his actions was pertinent to every single event that went on in the story. His action caused Paul to never have a sister and therefore have all of David’s expectations pressured against him. David’s action also caused Norah to be sent down a hole in life that she could never completely escape from. David was sent into a separate room, metaphorically speaking, from anyone that he associated with because he could not admit to having given up his daughter. Caroline had to leave town in order to escape from the scandal that could ensue with her sudden appearance with a baby. The choices that David and Caroline made after the major incident further sent the lives of those around them and their own into a spiral. Norah felt a wall separating her from David for the rest of their lives together because David held the secret of their daughter actually being alive. Because of the wall, their marriage silently fell apart. The silence that they shared caused Norah to become a more dynamic character and have more of an opinion and self-dependence than at the beginning of the story. The silence then affected their son, Paul, by leaving him with a disconnected family environment with hidden love. Also, David had extra expectations for Paul to make up for the loss that David felt. Caroline’s decision caused David to be constantly reminded of his daughter because Caroline sent letters and photographs of the years as Phoebe …show more content…
The two main characters were David Henry McAlister and Caroline Gill. David came from an extremely poor family. His sister, June, was born with down syndrome. Because of this, David was dealt with a lot of responsibility to raise money for the family as well as look after his sister. When his sister died at the age of twelve he was instilled with a deep desire to help others, make a difference. He was admitted to big city college after high school and was thankful for the escape. The admittance letter did not have his last name McAlister, and so he went on with the rest of his life as simply David Henry. The error allowed him to be free from the poor past that he was so ashamed of remembering. David then met Norah at the age of thirty three in a department store and married her three months afterwards. David is a tall sturdy man. He is a doctor at the local clinic. He is a kind man that wants to help others who are in need. He is very meticulous both in his practice and everyday life as can be seen when he follows the speed limits and lights when driving his wife to the hospital. After Norah gives him a camera about a year after the birth of Paul and Phoebe David become enveloped with taking photography. The novel portrays his passion as being an attempt to capture a piece of life like how that one moment he gave up his daughter was captured in his mind. Photography did become more than a passion for him and he even was featured in art galleries for his work. Throughout