The Lost Garden- Helen Humphreys
The last significant part of the book is the ending. Gwens best friend Jane dies, her love Raley dies but through all of this Gwen stays at the estate because it is where she feels most at home, she continues on teaching girls how to garden even after the war is over. The theme of this section of the book is love, because that is how Gwen see's her time at the estate, a time of love. "Every story is a story about death. But perhaps, if we are lucky, our story about death is also a story about love. And that is what I have remembered of love"(212). Perhaps this is the only place that Gwen has ever felt love because she certainly didn't feel loved by her mother as she was never told that her mother loved her. She still finds peace in her secret garden and can share that with Jane as she too found the secret garden and will love it dearly. I think that Gwen being at the estate has taught her how to love and be loved and without her ever going to the estate, I don't think she would have ever experienced it any other way as she was to timid and self consious to meet new people. Therefore the theme of this section of the book, or perhaps the whole book itself, is love.
These are solid, straightforward entries, Kelsey. I appreciate the use of quotations -- you could do more of this. Be sure to blend them within a sentence so that they are contained within a sentence. You identify some key moments in character; you could explore these more fully. The role of "love", too, is deserving of more reflection and investigation. Good start.
ReplyDeleteI really like your welcome posting. It's straight forward and honest. You've really done some digging into Humphrey's background. I loved this novel when I read it, so the details you put in this post were especially interesting to me. Could the tone be a bit more formal? Perhaps. Even so, this is very thorough. Well done!
ReplyDelete