“You change your life by changing your heart.” said Max Lucado. This is exactly what Catherine did in Karen Cushman’s Catherine, Called Birdy. Her experiences led to the discovery of the need for change. The interactions and experiences she had with the Jews, her mother, and a villager led to Catherine becoming more gentle, caring, aware of her surroundings, and more of herself than she was before. One way that Catherine changed was after her encounter with the old Jewish Lady.
How is Catherine unique? In the book, Rules by Cynthia Lord, Catherine was the main character who faced many challenges throughout the book. She has a mom who does not really understand her problems. Her dad does not really play a big role in the story. These challenges often include his little brother, David, messing up things.
She confides in her housekeeper that she loves Heathcliff, but can’t marry him because it would “degrade” her (71). While Catherine does have some affection for Edgar, she does not marry him out of love, she marries him because he is rich. Her love for Edgar is not natural, it is pretended. When Catherine falls ill, there’s a certain moment that she believe she is being haunted because she does not recognize herself in the mirror. When Nelly manages to convince her that the image in the mirror is her own, Catherine is horrified.
In elementary, she has a desire to fly and enjoys swinging on the swing set at school so she was determined to make a bigger jump, performing a somersault; yet, her teacher isn’t happy because another child gets hurt mimicking Birdie. She warns Birdie, “ Only birds can fly. It’s impossible for people to fly”, (165). In middle school, Birdie pushes the thoughts of flying and is more focused on the force of gravity; she joins gymnastics and appeals to a star gymnast, Yunhui whom Birdie studies every move; but, Yunhui has a tragic accident that leaves her paralyzed from the neck down. The tragic cause affects her by encouraging her to skip practices for gymnastics and as a result, quitting.
The Northern Flying Squirrel It is a bird! It is a plane! No, it is a Northern Flying Squirrel! This little critter has it all. It has a very unique definition, description and family.
Body: Can be distinguished from the Scarlet by its more massive size, deep red body color with green on the wing covert area; occasional green nape or green scalloping on nape and back; occasional red scalloping on the green upper wing coverts; rump and upper tail coverts medium blue; inferior surfaces of all feathers red. Tail: Deep red, becoming blue at the tip; inferior surface red. Immature Birds: Nestlings have brown feathers traversing their facial patch, becoming red as they approach one year of age; bone colored mandibles blacken with age; black eyes. Immature eyes are dark to pale gray. Captive Breeding: Has been slow to breed in captivity from wild caught stock; improved with captive bred birds as breeders.
In Elizabeth’s case the most obvious help she had was her aunt and uncle. It was her aunt and uncle that took her to Pemberley, and it was there that she was able to see Darcy again and meet his sister. In Darcy’s case it was his aunt as well Lady Catherin that helped his get together with Elizabeth. Lady Catherin went to see him after she spoke to Elizabeth trying to tell her not to be with Darcy and it was exactly that conversation between him and his aunt that allowed him to hope that Elizabeth liked
Through her letters, St. Catherine was able to address anyone, anywhere, in a direct and intimate way, crossing geographical, class and gender boundaries. In
She doesn’t have anyone to love her and she doesn’t love any one. Had Celie not been sold into marriage, she would probably still be at home getting raped by her “father” and we wouldn’t know Sofia or Harpo in the story. All of the tribulations of Celie’s childhood show how life was back then for some families. The tragedies of her childhood shaped the meaning of this work as a whole tremendously. She survived being raped by her own father, becoming impregnated twice, and being sold off into marriage as if she were worthless .
As James Henry describes Catherine as a girl who “has simply a plain, dull, gentle countenance”, she disappoints her father who wants an unusual daughter (8). She has been compare to her dead mother, who shares a same forename with her, by her father oftentimes throughout the entire story. This put a heavy pressure on Catherine that makes her try to justify and show her talents by please Dr. Sloper. According to James’ description of Catherine’s will “Her deepest desire is to please him, and her conception of happiness is to know that she has succeeded in pleasing him” she wants her father to be proud of her. (9) But Dr. Sloper’s view on her never changed, for he is never satisfied with her since her birth.