44 Literary Prompts

Katie Hines

10/22/2012

Block 4

44 Literary Prompts

Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary.

In the novel, Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult, there are many battles fought in the war for Willow’s survival that go past simply her disease. Willow suffers from Osteogenesis Imperfecta, which is a brittle bone illness causing her to snap a joint by simply sneezing, and she has two protectors: Amelia and her mother, Charlotte. Charlotte is the obvious warrior; she would die to protect Willow. Amelia, her older sister, is the one who wipes away Willow’s tears and carries her away from trouble. Upset with her mother for filing a law suit stating Willow should not have been born, Amelia often fights and lashes out at Charlotte, who does not seem to care much about her older daughter. Willow may be breaking, but Amelia is already shattered.

“’Yeah, you and every other human on this planet, mom,’ I yelled. ‘Guess what? It’s not all about you and what you want and what makes everyone feel sorry for your miserable life with your miserable-‘ She slapped me across the face. I wanted to hurt her as much as she’d hurt me, so I spat out the words that burned like acid in my throat. ‘Bet you wish I’d never been born, too,’ I said, and I took off running.” (240) Amelia feels her mother is betraying the entire family and destroying Willow to receive money. Charlotte feels as though Amelia only cares about herself and is the lucky child, the healthy one, therefore she does not believe she needs the attention Willow is basked in. But she could not be more wrong.

            Throughout the book, Amelia develops a self-hatred that continues to grow and overpower her. She forces herself to throw up every crumb of food she eats, and slits pulsing cuts through her fragile arms. Her parents do not notice, because after all, she couldn’t possibly have any problems. When Charlotte is told of this by the husband that discovered Amelia’s Bulimia, at first she is in denial. However, when Amelia admits to it, she must accept the truth. “I faced Amelia. ‘Is it true?’ She nodded, and I felt a twinge in my heart. Had I been blind? Or had I just been so busy watching you break that I had failed to notice my older daughter going to pieces?” (428) Amelia lashed out and fought against Charlotte because she wanted her to see her, truly see her. She wanted to be noticed, but instead was ignored. Charlotte and Amelia’s relationship was annihilated, because it was an only-child household rather than a happy family.

           

The most important themes in literature are sometimes developed in scenes in which a death or deaths take place. Choose a novel or play and write a well-organized essay in which you show how a specific death scene helps to illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

Throughout the novel, Handle With Care, Charlotte O’Keefe, the mother of a young child with disease causing brittle bones, begins to question if Piper, her doctor and best friend, could have alerted her about Willow’s disease earlier so that the pregnancy could have been terminated. As she files suit against the doctor that gave her a child she claims “she never wished for”, Willow begins to feel the tension if the choice her mother made and slowly starts to deteriorate, piece by piece. After the lawsuit is won, Willow’s family is enjoying a frigid, winter day. Willow walks carefully outside to find Amelia, and gently steps on the frozen pond, enjoying the sensation of doing something brave. The ice cracks, like so many of Willow’s bones, and she falls through…Willow drowned that day. This interlaces through the overall theme of “be careful what you wish for”.

                 Time and time again, Charlottes states in court, under oath, how had she known sooner, Willow would not be alive. However, she cares for her daughter with such love and gentleness, confessing to her that she is only filing suit for the money, therefore she does not mean it. When Willow passes away, so does Charlotte’s spirit. All of her time and love was invested in her daughter, the one who she never failed to tuck in at night or remind how special she was to her. But, she wished Willow away in law. She claimed “wrongful birth”. Did that mean wrongful life, for Willow? When her daughter dies, Charlotte must face what she sent upon herself.