Toni Collette

When first beginning to read this novel the reader may think that it is just about a boy and his grandfather, but in actuality it is about a boy discovering the stories his grandpa told him. In the novel a boy named Jacob has a grandpa that tells him stories from his childhood, but Jacob does not know if they are true. Jacob sets out to the island to find what his grandpa had told him about. He discovers a girl that used to be in love with his grandfather and catches her interest. Golan a right attacks them and Jacob has to protect the children. The place Jacob comes to find has some peculiar things that happen. In the novel Jacob’s grandpa Portman always tells him stories about monsters. Jacob goes to school and tells his friends about the monsters in the stories and they make fun of him. He decides that all of his grandpa’s stories are just stories. Then one afternoon Jacob’s grandpa gets attacked by the monsters in one of his stories. Jacob sees the monsters and cannot explain it. Jacob then gets all confused and starts having what his parents think are mental problems. Jacob keeps having dreams with the monsters in them. His parents then contract a therapist for him. Jacob wants to get to the bottom of his grandpa’s stories. Jacob’s opportunity soon comes when he tells his parents that he wants to go to the island. They were not on board at first, but Jacob’s father studies birds and discovered that the island is a great place for rare birds. So they set out to the island…

Analysis of Sula by Toni Morrison Toni Morrison wrote a touching story of two childhood friends who test the bonds of friendship and love. Throughout the story there are many themes that implore the reader to look more in depth at their meanings and consequences. The main theme throughout the book is that of friendship. In the novel we are introduced to two young girls from very different backgrounds, Sula and Nel. These two girls are like two sides of one person; they know each…

In Song of Solomon, a novel by Toni Morrison, flight is used as a literal and metaphorical symbol of escape. Each individual character that chooses to fly in the novel is “flying” away from a hardship or a seemingly impossible situation. However, by choosing to escape, one is also deliberately choosing to abandon family and community members. The first reference to this idea is found in the novel’s epigraph: “The fathers may soar/ And the children may know their names,” which introduces the idea…

When reading Sula by Toni Morrison some people will see race as the defining feature of the characters. However, when taking a closer look at the text it can be seen that the characters identities are much more complicated than this. It is not simply being black that makes the characters identify as such, but the characters choice in how to view themselves that defines them. This can be seen in the contrasting ways Nel and Sula form identities for themselves. Nel constructs her identity based on…

Struggling to be true to oneself and to be comfortable with who you are has always been a difficult thing for the individuals of humankind to accomplish. Many novels have been written around the relatable theme of finding one’s own identity for centuries. Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon is no exception. In this novel, the main character Macon (Milkman) Dead III had always subconsciously thought that he has no future. Morrison makes it seem that he is doomed to follow in his father’s footsteps of…

In the historical fiction novel Beloved, the author Toni Morrison discusses the struggle that slaves experienced during the civil war. Morrison uses the true account of Margaret Garner to tell the story between nurture and the ultimate safety of her children post escape. Margaret Garner was a slave who, once she had escaped, killed her third child in order to save her from a world of bigotry, racism, and torture. The characters in Beloved are directly affected by the pain they endured as slaves,…

The past often comes back to "haunt" the present, sometimes more literally than others. In Toni Morrison's Beloved an infant ghost haunts her mother in order to be closer to her, with the underlying theme focusing largely on slavery and its effects. Beloved, the infant ghost, is constantly yearning for her mother’s love and attention, and once she returns to 124 fully grown, she becomes increasingly present in Sethe's life and stirs up some old memories. Throughout the novel, Sethe and Beloved's…

Set in the 1940’s, Toni Morrison’s novel “The Bluest Eye” is a tale of Pecola, a young Negro girl shunned by society for being ugly due to her skin colour and appearance. Morrison explores life in America during the late 60s and early 70s in which American culture was influenced predominantly by the white race. Using a creative approach, Toni Morrison explores the white ideal that the Negro population strives to attain to shed light on an arguably different kind of racism. Through the use of…

Beloved and Pearl, the two spirit-like characters of Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, share one important theme for the main characters of Sethe and Hester. They are both people that are a consequence of an unfortunate event, that of adultery and premature death, that serve as a sign of a priority that Hester and sethe must take care of. For Beloved, Sethe's priority is to begin to stop denying the past and facing it and for Hester, Pearl serves as reminder…

Once again, Salinger wasn’t oblivious to the meanings behind each character’s name. In fact, symbolism plays a part in the character Sybil Carpenter. “Sybil, bright with innocence but already tarnishing, symbolizes for Seymour the human condition: like the sibyls of old, she is the unconscious oracle through whom the prophecy is revealed, the instrument of truth” (Lane). A sibyl is defined as “a woman in ancient times supposed to utter the oracles and prophecies of a god” (“sibyl”). It is…