Red from Green essay Essays

Red from Green essay Essays Red from Green essay Essay Red from Green essay Essay Red from Green essay BY benJ3164 Essay Red from Green All children need to undertake a Journey from being a child to an adult. For some, the journey goes very smooth and without any bumps, but for other it is a rough Journey. This is one of the most crucial themes in the novel Red from Green written by Maile Meloy. The novel describes a teenager named Sam who undertake the Journey of becoming a woman. The novel explains that Sam is out on a yearly float trip with her father, uncle and a client of her uncle. Sam is described as a slightly awkward teenage girl; She was awkward at fifteen, and praise made her suspicious. (p. l . ) The novel suggest, that she is not used to be complimented, and therefore she might have a low self-esteem. This low self-esteem could be a result of her complicated relationship with her father. Sam and her father has a distant relationship and we can assume this is because of the death of her mother. This important link in the family, which suddenly disappears, can lead to a lack of communication in the family. We can see this when neither Sam nor her father wants to talk about the boarding school; Everyone said what and opportunity it was, so much better than the local schools, but neither of them could bring themselves to talk about it. (p. 8. ) This lack of communication eventually leads to her taking more interest in another man who gives her attention. Layton presents himself as an alternative type of man, who appreciate her for being a women, however her father do not want to accept this and therefore still perceive her as a girl. Her father and Layton represent the separation in Sam. The part of her, which is still a child and the part of her, which wants to grow up. In additional the text displays the separation when she helps Layton with his back; The right side of her body was warm from the fire, the left side was cold. It was too cold at night to be wearing shorts (p. 1 1 The chilliness symbolize the part of her, which wants to grow up, in other words, the adult part of her. Where the warmth symbolize the part of her that still wants to be a child. Laytons relationship with Sam is purely based on his sexually intentions, which she discovers that evening; She was on one knee, half-straddling his back in the dust, and he rolled over, facing her. His hand slip up her leg to the small of her back and held tight. His eyes were cloudy and intent, focused and unfocused, and shed never seen a man look that way before (p. 1 . ) This encounter is a turning point for Sam, where she not literally, but in a symbolic way loses her innocence. We can see this after the encounter where Sam lies alone in her tent; She kept her hands between her thighs for warmth and the feeling there was sharp aching, but she didnt know what to do about it except lie awake, breathing until it went away (p. 12. ) The warmth in her body, which symbolize her childhood is vanishing, has almost left her body altogether. Her childhoods innocence blossoms one last time, in the end of the novel, where she talks to her father; She felt a flood f warmth for him, an overwhelming feeling that it was a mistake to go away. He she wanted to ask to make sure, but instead she took her dishes to the sink and the moment was over. (p. 12. ) The fact that she did not ask him why he left her with Layton, that evening and the warm feeling disappears, shows that her childhood is over. This brutal loss of innocence is the main theme in the story. We can also spot this in the title Red from Green, which symbolizes the loss of virginity. Another important symbol is the setting of the novel. The story takes place in the nature, hich can symbolize two different themes. The first is the natural sexual desires and instinct in the human brain. The second is the natural growth from child to adult. The main theme in the text is very typical in postmodern society. Many young teenagers like Sam, encounter some kind of crisis while growing up. If you use Red from Green as an example, there can be two separate reasons for this. The first is the change in the family pattern, like the death of Sams mother. The second is the many different choices young people have to take from an early age, like Sams choice of going to a boarding school.