Is The Memory Keeper’s Daughter of AP literary merit?

The question at hand here is, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter of AP literary merit? Now, one would respond either way to this question and it is all on how one perceives the novel, for me, I believe that The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is of literary merit and here’s why.

The first reason is there is a very organized structure that helps develop the relationship between all of the characters and shows all of the effects from David’s decision on the day Phoebe and Paul were born. The structure allows for the stories of both Phoebe’ and Paul's lives to be told and their stories show the relationships that they have with their “parents”. The relationships that each child develops and the feelings they have toward their authority figure show how much the one decision early in the novel developed the rest of the novel after it.

Another big reason I believe that this novel is of AP literary merit is that of the several devices that are used in order to develop the relationships spoken about previously and the theme as well. The use of the photography motif shows how much David’s one decision affected his life and everyone around him and it showed the importance the one moment can have on someone's life. The use of the flashbacks provides emotion and information that help develop the relationships throughout the novel. These two examples of literary devices are just a few that can be found in the novel and they help develop the work as a whole.

Although the theme may not have a lot to do with the literary merit of the novel, the theme is an important one and is one that can be used to educate people. For me, what makes an AP novel is one that has an important message that can be taken away, one that students can learn from and become better people from, and this novel does that very well.

Due to the character development, the literary devices, the relationships and the theme of the novel I believe that this novel is of AP literary merit. I would recommend this book to other students because it is one that I found very interesting and educational at the same time. This novel is one that can educate students about not only English but some bigger things that are going on in the world.

Well, that’s it for me folks it has been quite the journey and it's been a pleasure to share my literary findings with you all! Until next time, happy reading!

So what is the theme of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter?

The biggest theme that I took away from this novel was one that should be universally known and one that I think is a very important on which is our society needs to learn how to accept and becoming more accepting towards those who have intellectual disabilities and provide them with the opportunities that they deserve.

The entire novel begins because David Henry is unwilling to accept the challenge and provide Phoebe with the opportunities that she deserves in her life, he believes that she will be too much work and sends her away to go live with Caroline. Although Caroline takes wonderful care of Phoebe, Phoebe was still denied the right to be with her true family, she was unable to grow up with her brother and she never had a true relationship with her real family when she was growing up. Although Phoebe was denied all these from her real family Caroline took her in and raised her as if she was her own, and we need more people like that in this world.

For me personally this theme hits close to home, I am heavily involved with Special Olympics it is very evident that there is not enough support and there is a very negative perspective in the world revolving around those with intellectual disabilities, and this novel does a good job touching on the truth and revealing the stigma around intellectual disabilities. The novel mostly shows the negative stigmatism in the beginning of the novel when David gives Phoebe away. Unfortunately, there are any cases where the parents no longer want the child so they give them away and even more unfortunate many of them do not receive the opportunities that Phoebe has, often cases people are not prepared to have a child with intellectual disabilities and they do not know how to care for them.

I personally believe that his novel could be used as a teaching advice to show what happens to not only the children with the disability but those who gave up the child and those around them and how they are affected. This novel does a good job of showing the regret and the negative effects that give away Phoebe had on her biological family. If more people were to read this novel it could shed a light on intellectual disabilities and on how to become more accepting towards them.

The Structure and the Literary Devices in The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

Now that we have been introduced to the novel and its characters it is time to crack down on the structure of the novel and the literary devices that were used in order to develop the main ideas of the novel. Let’s take a look!

The author of the novel, Kim Edwards, uses a unique yet powerful structure in her novel that helps develop the relationships between the different characters. The novel itself is split up into different sections that are divided up by the date in which that chapter or section takes place, this allows for more concentration on specific details and events because the chapters are narrowed down to a specific year. Although breaking down the chapters by date was helpful, the fact that Edwards shifted between the life of David and Paul and the life of Caroline and Phoebe showed how much David’s decision to give Phoebe away really affected the lives of everyone around him. The negative effects of David’s decision are most heavily seen with the ones he is closest to, Norah because a work centered woman who is no longer the happy woman that she used to be and Paul is angry and guilty for all the events that are occurring around him. The structure of this novel not only develops the relationship of the characters but it helps develop the theme which will be talked about in a later blog post!

Now that we have touched on the structure of the novel I think it is important we talk about the motif in the novel which is photography. Photography is used as an outlet for the protagonist David Henry and it is used as an escape from the reality that he has created for himself. When David takes a picture he is freezing time, capturing the moment that is around him and showing it for what is truly is. Photography for his shows the beauty of everything around, however, it is used as an outlet because he uses it to try and cover up the moment that he gave away Phoebe. The moment that he gave away Phoebe is screenshotted in his mind, forever captured in picture form in his mind and is an image in a moment that he regrets and wishes he can take back. David uses photography in hopes that all the new beautiful moments that he captures will outweigh and cover up the moment where his life changed forever. I love the use of this motif, the symbolism and the reasoning behind it gives it more meaning and really develops who David is as a character.

Going along with the idea of capturing a moment and moments forever being imprinted in one’s mind, there are so flashbacks that are used throughout the novel as well. The main purpose of these flashbacks is to show the sadness, regret and in some ways guilty for everything that has taken place and how unfair it was too many people for Phoebe to be taken away from her real family. I think that the flashbacks are important because they provide more background and more emotion to the stories revolving around each of the characters.

Join me next time where I’ll talk about theme and how that theme relates to me and my life!

An introduction to The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

Welcome to the introduction the amazing novel The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, a story, unlike many and one that I have found to be quite the page turner. Now, before we get into the details of what makes up this novel I thought it would be important to give a quick summary and a detailed introduction of all of the characters, so here it goes!

In order to not give away too many spoilers to my followers who may want to read the novel in the future, I’ll keep the summary short and sweet leaving the important details and removing the intense details the draw in the reader. At the beginning of the novel, we are first introduced to David and Norah Henry who are a young couple who are expecting a child to be on its way. When the delivery finally approaches an unexpected set of twins is delivered, Paul and Phoebe, however, Phoebe shows the classic signs of down syndrome. In the discovery of this information, David decided to give Phoebe to the nurse, Caroline and tell his wife that the daughter died of a heart defect. The story from there goes on to tell the stories of both the relationships of David, Norah and Paul and Caroline and Phoebe. During the novel, both Phoebe and Paul know nothing of one another until the death of David when secrets are revealed.

The main characters that I want to focus on are David, Norah, Caroline, Paul and Phoebe for they are the main characters in the novel. David Henry is the protagonist in the novel, he is the reason this novel comes about because he hides his daughter from the rest of the family, this decision causes him to cover his decisions and lies for the rest of his life. Norah Henry was a happy woman who always found the good in a situation, however when the “loss” of Phoebe occurs her attitude and outlook on life changes completely and she becomes lost. Caroline Gill is the nurse who ends up taking Phoebe in as her own. Throughout the entire novel Caroline believes that she is a hero that saves the Henry’s life by taking a burden of a child away from them, however, she soon finds that it's not the case. Then we have Paul and Phoebe who in some cases are foils to one another. Paul is a young boy who is rebellious and adventurous however is very angry with the world because he sees the failing marriage of his parents as well as blames the death of his sister on himself. The anger and the grief of his sister are quite different than Phoebe. Phoebe is a very happy go lucky, carefree type of girl who sees only the good in people and does not see that it is bad in the world, she is a genuine person and in many cases naive.

As you can see the characters of this novel are somewhat complicatedly intertwined with one another and the relationships between them help develop the characteristics and personality of the character. It is important that we get a general idea of the characters and their relationships with one another before getting into the devices and such so we can understand why everything is structured the way it is.

Messages in When She Woke

There are many different messages and thematic ideas in When She Woke many of which that are still present in today's times. However,  I am going to choose to focus on just a few of them. 

The first message that I am going to focus on in the separation of church and state. Throughout history and even a times during today's society. Without the separation of church and state, many problems are created and issues will arise. In When She Woke it causes many problems for Hannah. In this society it is against their religion to do many things, for example, abortion, this is the ruling that causes a problem for Hannah. Since the religion disallowed abortions in then became illegal in Texas for any woman to have an abortion. The society is heavily revolved around the churches views and their beliefs. The church is the main creator of the rules in the society and this causes many problems. If it wasn't for the churches involvement in the government Hannah would not have become a Red because having abortions would not be allowed. Personally, I strongly believe in separation of church and state, I believe that every person is entitled to their own opinions and should be able to express themselves in any way that they want. If there had been a separation of church and state in this society then Hannah would not have become a Red thus avoiding many problems for Hannah. 

Another message/thematic idea is the oppression of women in society. In When She Woke and in The Scarlet Letter, the women are the only ones who suffer any consequences for their actions, the men, on the other hand, get away with everything. This is an idea that is developed in many novels. Personally, I believe that this is an idea developed in many novels because it is common in every time period, even today. In earlier history the oppression of women was much worse than it is today, however, there is still oppression in today's society. We see oppression in today's society when it comes to unequal pay for women and the feminist movement that has been becoming more popular. This oppression women as being a thematic idea are very important because it is still relevant and is intriguing for many people to read because they can still relate it to events that are occurring in their lives. 

Although I only briefly touched upon a couple of the thematic ideas and messages of the novel it is clear that they are present for a reason, mostly because no matter what the time period they are still important and relevant.  Given the fact that the thematic ideas are always relevant also give more evidence to prove why I believe When She Woke is of literary merit and is AP worthy. These thematic ideas also are essential for the development of the novel and for developing the readers through and opinions of the characters and the situations. 

Unfortunatly, this is my last blog post about When She Woke, I hope you have enjoyed reading about the novel and I strongly suggest that everyone reading takes the time to read and enjoy the novel like I have. 

A futuristic Scarlet Letter?

As one begins to read When She Woke  it quickly becomes clear that the novel has many similarities with the classic novel The Scarlet Letter. The similarities in some cases are striking and very evident, while others are more subtle and can go unseen if the reader is not playing close attention to detail. Now you may ask, what are these similarities and is When She Woke a futuristic version of The Scarlet Letter?

The first similarity that was very clear to me when reading the novel was the use of the color motif, specifically red. In When She Woke Hannah Payne is dyed to the color red for having an abortion, which in her society is considered murder. Meanwhile, in The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is marked with a red letter “A” as a sign of adultery and she is considered to be a harlot. The use of the color motif strongly develops and forms the character of Hester and Hannah because they are both categorized and with people shunned because of their actions and marking. In relation to Hannah and Hester’s “markings” both receive this branding due to rebellious acts on the society that they lived in, which for both When She Woke and The Scarlet Letter revolves heavily around religion. In both novels religion set strict regulations on society and the actions that could take place in that society. For Hannah, abortions were considered to be a sin and any woman who committed this act were dyed the color red and sent to prison where they sat alone and were watched by people of society and the researchers. In Hester’s case adultery was deemed one of the worst sins by the church, any person who committed adultery was forced to wear the red “A” to show that they had sinned. In both cases, those who committed these acts were shut out by society and left alone, also women were usually the ones who received the blame for the acts.

When talking about the consequences of the crimes women were usually the ones who were affected. For example both Arthur Dimmesdale and Aidan Dale (who were both ministers/reverends) never recieved consequences for the crime that they also committed, both Hannah and Hester were the ones who were forced to suffer through the punishment. I believe that this reveals a lot about the society in both of the novels. In both literary works it is the women who appear to suffer the most, they lose the most, and they are always the ones who take the blame even when there are others involved. In both societies the men carry the higher jobs, and they are affiliated greatly with the church, which in relation to the society is one of the most important roles to have. Overall, in both novels women are considered to be inferior to men while the men are considered to be superior and hold very powerful positions in society.

Now back to the question of whether When She Woke is a futuristic version of The Scarlet Letter. Personally, I believe that it is a futuristic version of the earlier work because of the many similarities that the novels have. There are too many similarities between the novels for When She Woke not to be based on the earlier work of The Scarlet Letter. If I were forced to choose between the two works, even though I believe they are both great, I would choose When She Woke because it is a more modern version with an interesting spin on the ideas that had already been developed in the other novel. Given the similarities, do you think When She Woke is a futuristic version of The Scarlet Letter?

Is When She Woke apporpriate for an AP class?

When She Woke is interesting, attention grabbing, and overall is a great read, yet is it a text of sufficient literary merit to be studied in an AP class? Personally, I believe that this is a book of literary merit and could be studied in AP classes. My opinion on When She Woke in terms of literary merit is in large part due to the devices that Hillary Jordan uses in order to develop the novel. As I talked about in my last blog, flashbacks and motifs are used greatly for developing the characters. The flashbacks in the novel reveal a lot about the characters and how they ended up in the situations they’re in. The color motif is greatly used through the color red, which is a representation of blood/murder in the novel and is used to present Hannah after she has had an abortion and committed a sin in the eyes of society. Jordan also used a great deal of imagery and description in order to paint clear images into the reader's mind. For example, “The void began to lighten, fading to a not quite black, fading to a deep, sooty gray, fading to a slate gray, fading to a cloud gray. A glowing pinpoint punctured the darkness. It pulsed -Hannah!-  and she saw a shining mote suspended there. It puzzled again -Hannah!- becoming brighter with each burst of incandescence. It seared her eyes, stabbed her ears, threatened her nonbeing. Hannah! The mote blazed like a sun, overwhelming, all-encompassing. She entered into it entered into her. She was the mote” (275) the entire quote above is used just to describe a simple dream that Hannah had. The word choice and imagery that Jordan uses in this passage really brings the dream to life, and it is not only in this passage that she uses such beautiful imagery but throughout the entire novel. All of the literary devices mentioned above provide opportunities for deeper analysis and different ways of interpretation, which I believe is a huge part in making a novel be considered AP merit. I believe this because, personally, I think to objective behind an AP class is to provide students with the opportunity to read literature to reveal the underlying mean of a novel, which is usually provided through the use of the student/readers analysis, interpretation and understanding of a novel.

Not only is When She Woke a work of sufficient literary merit, but it is also a novel that could be helpful for taking the AP exam. Personally, I believe this novel would be most helpful when it comes to the essay portion of the exam. This novel could provide great examples character development through Hannah’s character and how she develops throughout the novel. This novel could also provide a great example of the hero’s journey, which is the steps the “hero” of every novel goes through throughout their journey, for When She Woke I would focus on Hannah and the journey that she goes through. An interesting aspect of this novel that could help for the AP exam is the fact that When She Woke is a futuristic version of The Scarlet Letter. I personally think comparing Hannah and the main character of The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne, could provide very interesting examples in an essay and could develop on the idea of how many novels use similar characters, characteristics, and devices to develop a theme. When She Woke also could be helpful when completing the multiple-choice portion of the exam because in the novel a lot of analysis and interpretation must be accomplished in order to understand the meaning of the novel. The skill of interpretation and understanding is very important for the multiple choice questions because the questions on the excerpts usually go into great detail. Overall, I believe reading this novel could be very beneficial to helping someone with the AP exam.

Overall, I believe When She Woke is a novel of strong literary merit and would be a great help when taking the AP exam. Personally, I believe that the best part of the novel is that it is an easier read, it is very interesting, it is a page turner and yet it still possesses the qualities for it to be of literary merit and could be considered at the AP level. Although I have not finished the novel yet, I would recommend this novel and I am very eager to finish to discover Hannah’s full experience and journey.