Ruthie said, with soft vehemence, "California. This here's California an' we're right in it!". Climbing down from the truck these were Ruthie's words after days and nights of traveling. They had finally made it. I can picture Ruthie saying those words and everyone giving a huge sigh of relief. Just coming off of the hot Arizona desert they were relieved to find water and everyone took some time to relax after completing the journey they had just made. Now that they were in California, Pa was ready to find work and see the beautiful countryside everyone was talking about. In this Chapter you can feel the anxiousness through every one's words. Anxious to start their new lives, to get new jobs to support the family, and sleep under a roof of their new homes.
The second event that struck me in the chapter was Noah leaving the family. He says this to Tom "You know how it is, Tom. You know how the folks are nice to me. But they don't really care for me." I believe that when Noah found out they were traveling to California he was going to use this as his opportunity to leave the family. He has had a feeling of not ever belonging to his family. He feels as though he is a burden and is tired of feeling that way. As a reader the author does not tell much about Noah on the trip, it really surprised me that he would do something like this. He was ready to make a life for himself, leaving the family was the first step had to take, and he did it the moment they got into California.
I think that wisdom comes from the longer you have lived your life. Elders can have some great wisdom because they have experienced more through living longer and have gained wisdom from the good and bad things/events they have encountered in their lifetime. On the other hand, knowledge is information you gain through learning new things, reading books, or work experiences. I find wisdom in people who are older than me. The more I live I realize wisdom is not something you gain over night, it comes with time. We get wisdom when we learn things for ourselves. Wisdom for me comes from my Grandpa, because of a disease he cannot do everyday things, his muscles and joints are deteriorating. In his case his mind is perfectly fine and he has lived through so much that the little things he says or does gives me more wisdom then I ever could in my life.
I never really thought about the Noah part like that. Its interesting to think he could have been planning that from the beginning and it would make since because of how different he is from the rest of them. He must have felt like the odd one out for a while to make that choice.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that about Noah as well, even though ma tried extremely hard to keep the family together, she had no control over gramma and grampa's death, just like she couldn't control noah and force him to stay.
ReplyDeleteThe title shows the "X" at the end of the map, they finally got to their destination. It a great title, shows that all their efforts are paying off. I like the points u bring up about Noah. I feel like he never really was an important character in this story, so I kind of felt it was going to happen eventually.
ReplyDeleteI liked your title but I also think it's ironic because they should be happy they finally made it and right away Noah leaves.
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