Hope (Theme)

Author's note: This is my writing piece used for theme. It is about a little girl who is blind and gets stolen while she is in her step mother's car. She must show bravery and hope to fight through it all.

In Girl, Stolen there is a theme that I was thinking of while reading the book. It really stood out to me. I think that the theme was courage/bravery and hope. This poor small girl was blind and had gotten stolen by a man named Griffin. He was a big guy with a horse voice from all the smoke filled in his lungs. The blind girl was named Cheyenne. She was small and blind and slightly unstable. Getting stolen is a terrible thing to occur. But getting stolen while being blind? That's a whole different story.

Being blind, makes life a huge challenge. Cheyenne had no way of knowing that she was being stolen at first. She couldn't see the man walk over or open the door. She could see... nothing. During the time that she was being stolen, instead of using her eyes she had to use all her other senses in the best way possible. It is very difficult. She must use her ears to keep track of all the things she hears and must use her touch to feel around and has to use that sense to feel her braille watch which tells her what time it is and tells her an estimate of how many possible miles away they are. Using those other senses that she has, she can keep gathering clues as to where they are. Cheyenne didn't know when she was able to go home again. She knew that Griffin would keep her for awhile because otherwise he could be accused of stealing and kidnapping and would spend almost all of his life in prison. Cheyenne needs to collect as many clues as she can and cannot rest otherwise she will miss out on something important and well worth in figuring out where he is taking her. Being blind, Cheyenne doesn't know what Griffin is doing or where they are. 

In the book, Cheyenne is being very firm with Griffin and even though he found out that she was blind, she is talking and acting as if nothing is different then any other ordinary child. She was talking as if she was very angry and demanding that he take her back where he picked her up. Cheyenne was having to be very brave in this situation and have the courage to stand up to the man who had kidnapped her. All she wanted to do was go back to her home and cry but she couldn't. Not in any situation as intense as it was. She just needed hope. Cheyenne had to have hope that she was going to be okay and that Griffin would take her back home soon. According to the way that Cheyenne responded to Griffin, he has her convinced that he will take her back and it was an honest complete accident that she had been in the car. She believed that. Now Cheyenne is just waiting to see where Griffin takes her, and is going to hold him to the fact that he will take her back home. The theme, hope and bravery/courage, is taking place throughout the time that she is being stolen. Cheyenne definitely showed bravery and hope. Hoping that she would return home safely to her father. 

Cheyenne's mother had passed away years ago. She has a step-mom that supports her as if she was her mother. With the man knowing that she was blind, Griffin started to take advantage of this disability. When Cheyenne was being firm with Griffin and yelling at him, Griffin pulled out a root beer bottle and pressed it against the side of her head. With no sight, Cheyenne thought it was a gun. She did as he said by closing her mouth and not screaming. She had to display courage both to herself and Griffin. She acted as if she weren't scared of a gun at all, but she didn't over do it. All she kept telling herself was that she would be completely fine and he wouldn't pull the trigger. He didn't. Griffin then had Cheyenne lay down in the back of the car and she took notice of all of her surroundings.

I think that the themes definitely showed. Cheyenne also did a very well job portraying it as well. Being blind is not an easy thing. It makes life a challenge. Cheyenne learns to fight through it and I think that she did better in the situation than any other kid that got stolen would. Hope and bravery showed within her and to Griffin.

Blind

Author's note: This is my prediction piece for reading. I made a prediction on what I think will happen in the book Girl, Stolen.

Must have ears to keep track of everything you hear. Must have touch in order to feel everything around you. Must have scent to smell things. Must have taste so you can taste foods and other things that are in your mouth. Must have eyesight in order to see everything that goes on around you.

In the book Girl Stolen, Cheyenne doesn’t have eyesight. She is blind. She cannot see everything that goes on around her. She does not know what gestures people make. She does not know what faces people are making. She cannot see them at all. Living life isn’t easy for her. Cheyenne needs to use a cane to feel things around her. Something as simple as getting in the car when leaving your house, is a challenge. How is she to know where to turn and where her mother’s car is? She doesn’t. That is what makes life a challenge for her.

To start with, in the opening of the book, Cheyenne is diagnosed with pneumonia. It makes it hard for her to breath and she has a constant feeling of congestion. With her step-mom on her way to pick up a prescription, she is bundled up under a blanket and laying down in the backseat of the car. Her step-mother gets out of the car and runs in to pick up the prescription. Finally, her step- mother returns but gets in the car quite quickly and there is a smelling of smoke in the air in replacement of her smooth mint cough drop. The smell had been brought by her. Cheyenne looked up only to find that it wasn’t her step-mother but someone else. She was getting stolen. That is where the title came from. Girl, Stolen. But it wasn’t just any girl. It was a small blind girl. In this predicament, Cheyenne has to rely on all other senses but her eyesight. One of the most important.

Once the guy finally took note of her, he claimed it was an accident and only wanted the car and not her. He couldn’t get caught now so he did end up having to kidnap her. The guy tied her up so that she wouldn’t fight back. Now, Cheyenne cannot show that her ultimate weakness was being blind even though she knew it was. She couldn’t let him take complete advantage of her because of her inability to see.

Now, Cheyenne is going to go along with being tied up and everything but still fight back with words to show him that he is not the boss. Cheyenne will not let him control her and that she will keep her mouth shut around him. Cheyenne is going to allow herself to get tied up and that’s as far as it will go. The guy claims that he will take her back or let her go in a while once the whole kidnapping calms down with the police. I have a feeling that Cheyenne will cooperate with and trust him because she has already let him tie her up and has forgiven him for the misunderstanding of her being in the car. She will let him keep her for a few days but be very cautious with the things he does. If something is out of her comfort zone, or he does something wrong, then she will fight back. Considering she is blind and doesn’t know where they are, she has to trust her other senses. Cheyenne will go along with anything that doesn’t make her feel uncomfortable and wait until she can find her way back home. She might become friends with the guy and will not tell her step-mom or the police exactly what happened. Instead she might make something up. Cheyenne will have an adventure out of being kidnapped and can do just as many things as any other ordinary person can.

If no ears, then you could not keep track of things you hear. If no touch, then you could not feel everything around you. If no scent, then you could not smell things. If no taste, then you could not taste foods or any other thing that goes into your mouth. If no eyesight, then you can use every other sense better than an ordinary person.