Response to Lit

Julianna DeNicola
Response to lit
October 23,2007

Have you ever sacrificed something for your family? In the book Julia's Hope, the father or husband sacrifices the way he feels about asking someone to stay in their house for his family and their wants. Julia sacrifices he food, water and blankets for her kids, she's determined to find a place to live so her family doesn't have to roam the countryside poor. This shows to never give up because you can find what your looking for like Julia. The importance of the theme outside of the book is, if everyone gave up and didn't try then this world would be a lousy place. If you constantly try and don't give up when hard things are thrown at you; you will become a stronger person. In the book,Emma lets the Wortham's stay in her house, Emma comes and lives with the Wortham's Julia and Emma deliver one of the Hammond babies and Samuel makes Emma a wheel chair as a way of saying thank you.
The two main characters Julia and Emma either show or develop the theme by the actions they take in the book. Julia is a loving,caring women who knows how to provide for her family; when things get tough she pushes through and doesn't quit. This is important because the book takes place in the Great Depression The great depression began in October 1929. During the great depression people heavily depended on the government to provide food. The great depression lasted about one decade. During the great depression millions of jobs were lost and 250,000 young people were homeless. The cause for the great depression was the inequality of wealth among the people. In the book Julia is providing for her family the best she can while her husband can't. Julia never gives up and by doing that she finds a place to live and puts food on the table for her family. The second main character Emma, is a women who gives and gives and gives. After Emma's husband died and she lost her leg, before moving to a new town she gave away almost everything she had except for her house and what she brought with her. After Emma goes home to live with the Wortham's she continues to get sick. However Emma continues to live every day to the fullest.
Although I loved the book and reading it, I didn't get much out of it. This book relates to me because i already live my life like this;not giving up. A personal example of not giving up is when my grandmother had breast cancer and she fought for her life instead of giving up and dieing. Everyday there are people going through rough times such as parents getting divorced and people dieing. People realize that you shouldn't give up;It's normal for people to feel like giving up but they don't, because if they did life wouldn't mean anything to them, people normally go back into the world and keep living.
The authors purpose was to entertain their audience. I think the author did a good job because she kept me entertained and wanting to read more. I do think the characters are believable because the struggles they went through could happen to anybody. For example the father losing his job and having to move his family some where new, The theme's believable because people all the time are never giving up. For example the family realizes if they had given up, life would suck so they pushed through. In Julia's Hope by Leisha Kelly she illustrates if you don't give up on life things might turn out how you want them to.