1. Gayle Foreman writes using a first-person point of view. Why do you think that she has decided to write this way. Consider the specific section where Mia is viewing the scene after the crash.
2. If I Stay is not written in chapter form, but is written in times throughout the day. I think that Foreman uses the times to provide a more immediate and active description of the thought going through Mia's head. What do you think the significance of using times instead of chapters is?
3. Describe each member of Mia's family, including herself. What are their personality traits? In addition, what do the flashbacks (specifically the one about Mia's first cello performance) reveal about each member of her family?
1. Writing in first person adds to the emotion. You start to feel what the narrator is feeling. When she described seeing her father's brains scattered over the road, I felt the disgust and sadness that she felt because there was so much description of what she saw.
ReplyDelete2. Using times gives you a better sense of when things happened. If it was in chapter form, you probably would not understand the time of day of when everything happened. Also, police and first responders use times a lot. Some examples of this could be what time the crash happened, what time someone perished, and what time the first responders arrived. With saying that, the author could have used times because it gives a more tragic tone.
3. Mia prefers more classical music which conflicts with the rest of her family's taste in music. Mia differs a lot from her family, so much she believes she is really not one them. Mia's first cello performance reveals that she really is not much different from the rest of her family. Her dad admits to getting nervous too which comforts her enough to continue with the show.
1. I think that Foreman is trying to soak in our minds, the despair and confusion Mia is feeling. The fact that she's just watched her parents die horrid deaths is a lot to soak in, but then you add the fact that she, herself, doesn't know if she's dead or alive. Hearing it in first people really makes you think about it on a more conversational and personal level.
ReplyDelete2. The times give a better feeling of how quickly things are happening and you can see that an hour ago, her family was just going for a drive on a fun snow day, but now look where they are. Contradicting that, it also gives a feeling of how slow things are moving along. For example, it's taken several pages for the paramedic to get Mia in the ambulance and to the hospital.
3. Mia is an average teenage girl that living like any teenage girl would. Minus the fact she's an extremely gifted cello player. She has a boyfriend, she goes to school, she faces the same stress as any girl trying to get their life in order with college and growing up. Mia's brother, Teddy, is again, your average 8 year old kid. He loves life and doesn't know much about the pain life will bring him. He's playful and loves pounding of drums like any 8 year old boy would. Mia's Mom is a very caring and compassionate mother that only wants the best for her family. She is very calm and sweet, but has some quirk to her (pancakes on pg. 5). Mia's Dad is a man who's reckless past still influences him and his children. He is fun loving, but knows that to raise a family he needs to step up and be a father. In the performance flashback, Mia's Dad seems to be the one that tells her that she'll get a treat after if she does something, while her mother is the one to give her a big hug and tell her she can do it. Both are very supportive, but in a little bit different ways.