Look at the very first page of the novel. No, not page 1. Look before that. There is a page at the very beginning of the novel with a paragraph that reads like this:
Inside the snow globe on my father's desk, there was a penguin wearing a red-and-white-striped scarf. When I was little my father would pull me into his lap and reach for the snow globe. He would turn it over, letting all the snow collect on the top, then quickly invert it. The two of us watched the snow fall gently around the penguin. The penguin was alone in there, I thought, and I worried for him. When I told my father this, he said, "Don't worry, Susie; he has a nice life. He's trapped in a perfect world."
Think about that passage for a minute.
Answer the following questions in a paragraph:
What did Susie's father mean when he said the penguin was "trapped in a perfect world?" Why does her father consider it perfect?
Think about what has happened to Susie. Do you think she considers herself "trapped" in her heaven? Do you think she sees it as a perfect world? Explain your answer.
Lesson Learned
14 years ago
