Family Dynamics

 In the most recent reading, we observe another scene showing the readers how Lauren's mother and father are not the best parental figures. Lauren's father and Cory ends up giving Keith a BB gun for his birthday, which turns out horribly as Keith shoots a bird, almost shoots Marcus, then runs away with the gun. Cory, even though she's supposed to be the adult in the situation, simply cannot function and Lauren decides to take over her class. Cory and Lauren's father also fight over the whole situation and there's just a lot of overall tension in the family, something Lauren gets increasingly frustrated over. She clearly still loves her family, but doesn't let that cover up the serious flaws they have. I predict that her family's actions may be the final tipping point for Lauren to break against her current bonds of control/authority and start living life the way she wants. Do you all think Lauren will decide to act according to her own beliefs, or will she continue to live under the standards set by her parents?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Perseverance in the Parable of the Sower

 As we finished the Parable of the Sower for the end of the year, I found myself looking at some threads running throughout the book. Today I wanted to touch on a specific theme that stood out to me, perseverance. Perseverance is shown very prominent through the actions of Lauren, and she is able to fight through tough situations and achieve the unachievable with the power of her will. Lauren is not only able to survive out on her own, but she also invents her own religion and creates her own community. Lauren achieves these goals among many by creating a path and sticking to it. Even with her family killed and hometown destroyed she pushes on through the hardships without letting the hopelessness of her situation get to her. We could all take Lauren's perseverance as an example during these tough times we are facing ourselves. We can take her lead and set goals ourselves which we wont rest until we reach. 
Read more

The Fire

 Chapter 14 opens in a very dramatic and fast paced manner with intruders and a fire. However, I think this fire was predicted by Lauren as there are many subtle clues that build up to this event. We also have intruders destroying the neighborhood gate which I think is symbolic of the safety and the community of the town being destroyed. Lauren also predicts this as she tells Joanne of the neighborhood gate being destroyed. I think that because Lauren was able to see these events ahead of time, she was able to react faster than most and make her way out of the chaos. Although this destruction and death is terrible, I think the physical demolition of this place called "home" for Lauren is just another tether holding her back that is cut. Although Lauren will find life outside her pampered world difficult at first, in the end, I think it will be freeing. What do you all think? What impact will this fire have on Lauren?
Read more