Personal Connections

1) In the first paragraph, Lizabeth only remembers the dirt roads and grassless yards when she thinks of that time and that place. When I think of my old home, I remember the beautiful flowers in our yard and the grayish-white bricked house.

2) In the second paragraph, Lizabeth always comes across this strange nostalgia when she thinks of that memory. For me, when I think of my old home I always (for some strange reason) remember our neighbor’s two black dogs. I hated them, so maybe that’s why I always think of them.

3) In the fourth paragraph, Lizabeth describes the poor conditions she lives in. Having no radios, few newspapers and no magazines and being called “culturally deprived.” These living conditions remind me of when I visited the “poor” side of Korea and the homes had no running water, barely any electricity and no technology of any kind except old half-broken T.V’s.

4) Miss Lottie planting marigolds reminds me of my neighbor who lived across the street. Everyday, I would see the middle-aged woman wearing a wide-brimmed hat planting flowers and watering them. She seemed to have great interest in her flowers and care for them greatly.

5) When Lizabeth pretends to act tough and show false courage when Joey asked her, “You scared, Lizabeth?” it reminded me of how I used to pretend to be all strong and stuff in front of my friends so I wouldn’t appear weak to them.

6) The children’s fear of Miss Lottie reminds me of the fear I used to have towards my great-grandmother. As weird as it sounds, my great-grandmother had this dull, slightly frightening countenance. I feel really bad now that I think of it, but I was very young at that time.

7) After destroying Miss Lottie’s flowers, Lizabeth’s feeling of shame reminds me of all like times I felt ashamed whenever I did something shameful.

8) When Lizabeth is bored in the summer, it reminds me a lot of how I get really bored in the summer because I repeat doing the same stuff over and over everyday.

9) At the end of the story when Lizabeth destroyed Miss Lottie’s marigolds out of her anger, it reminded me of how every time I’m angry, I always have something to rip up to calm my anger.

10) The overall setting of the story reminds me a lot of Detroit. The people live in poor conditions and there always seems to have this depressing atmosphere that lurks around.