Power Of One Reflection

Improved Essays
Riveting, inspiring and a truly remarkable plot; Bryce Courtenay’s novel, The Power of One, leaves readers on the edge of their seats as they stride through early 1900s South Africa in the eyes of young Peekay, where war and discrimination remain as alive as possible as our protagonist continues their journey of unique life experiences that shape him into who he becomes. After having read the novel, I can undoubtedly exclaim that this novel possesses a great amount of life lessons and themes which the author expressed in a very realistic manner, making my experience with the novel quite memorable. Therefore, despite the few struggles I faced as I read the novel such as the length and lack of personal connection with the character’s and their …show more content…
In relation, I believe how enjoyable and comprehensible parts of the storyline remain relates to the personal connection one can make when reading the novel. If one remains able to make a personal connection with the story, that connection will cause the reader to have a better understanding of the situation they are reading about. For example, one section of the plot I truly enjoyed was when Peekay began to learn about music and piano playing from Doc and I had enjoyed this due to my experience with studying classical music, allowing me to establish a connection with Peekay and his growing love for piano. When I was able to understand and connect with parts of the novel, the novel was easier to comprehend and thus, made the experience more enjoyable. As for parts that I did not connect within the novel, those parts were not easy to understand and thus making the experience with those events in the story less enjoyable. Furthermore, the movie adaptation was especially not an enjoyable experience, as I became aggravated by the lack of vital characters such as Hoppie Groenewald and Morrie Levy as well as the removal of vital, plot-progressing events such as Peekay’s eventful train ride with Hoppie Groenewald. During the unit, we focused on Hoppie Groenewald being an extremely important character to Peekay’s character development and to have him removed entirely in the …show more content…
After continuously answering the questions, I began to infer which parts of the novel were important and I began to place sticky notes on the parts I deemed important, such as a character development in Peekay or Doc, passages with metaphors, events that touched greatly upon the themes of the novel, etc. For example, after answering questions about the full moon motif and the symbolism of the Black Mamba snake, I began to search for these motifs continuously. Additionally, the analysis of passages with a group furthered my understanding of the many literary devices as well as the themes of the novel, such as the theme of death which Peekay originally viewed as a violent accident, until the death of Doc which remained a peaceful passing. Likewise, I discovered many traits of characters I did not see previously, such as Doc’s seriousness that is only seen by those closest to him. After these findings during the group work, I was able to connect the vocabulary used in the book to the characters and literary devices as adjectives, not only extending my vocabulary but also furthering my understanding of the author’s writing

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