Post-mortem of a protagonist
Book title: Miss Rumphius
Summary
This is a book whose author is Barbara Cooney. The book revolves around the three desires of the protagonist. The first desire is to have a life by the sea, travel to faraway places and to turn the world into a beautiful home than she found it. There is a need to analyze the protagonist thoroughly when summarizing this original book. The protagonist of the novel is Alice Rumphius. The young girl pays attention to what his grandfather tells her about the far distant land and seas and the girl vows to grow up and settle in the sea. The following body parts of the essay add up to the summary part.
Head
It helps in describing the intellectual capacity of Alice Rumphius. She is a young girl having dreams and visions of making the world a better place. She wants to go to faraway places and live by the sea (Cooney, 1985). Another vision for the young girl is to make her grandfather proud by achieving all the dreams mentioned above. The reason is that the grandfather is the motivation factor from the stories he tells.
Eyes
It helps in describing the memorable sights that affect the protagonist and how they affect him. The unforgettable view is the survival and expansion of her lupines after winter. The lupines were beautiful purple and blue flowers and roses. The extension was because of the wind and birds. It affected her in the sense that she ordered large quantities of the seeds and on arrival, she pockets them on daily and scatters them everywhere (Cooney, 1985). They grow, making the town beautiful.
Ears
The section helps in understanding what Alice heard from other people and the effect of the words. Alice would sit with her grandfather and listen to her telling stories of beautiful lands in faraway places. Some were beyond the sea. It affected her such that she went ahead to settle by the sea (Cooney, 1985).
Nose
The section illustrates what Alice smells and its effect. Alice loves the smell of the lupines after they survive and expand through winter. The scent of roses is also pleasant and it makes her grow more roses and flowers.
Mouth
The communication aspect brings out the debates the character gets into. The best debate is the discussion between her and her grandfather. In the debate, her grandfather motivates her to make the world a better place. A song that symbolizes the philosophy of Alice Rumphius is Heal the world by Micheal Jackson.
Arms
It is vital to bring out what the protagonist loves doing. She generally loves planting flowers, an aspect that made her order for a lot of seeds from a seed company before scattering them all over, for them to grow.
Hands
The section brings out the conflicts that Alice deals with. The problem of having a boring world was what she hated. She solved the conflict by planting lupine flowers on her own with the inspiration of her grandfather (Cooney, 1985). She also instilled the same conflict handling techniques in her niece.
Heart
Bringing out the emotional side of the character is essential. Alice has a great affiliation with the world, a reason that makes her want to make it a better place. She also has a love for lupines. She plants them, making the town beautiful (Cooney, 1985).
Torso
The section brings out her instinctive side. What she likes about herself is that she makes the town look beautiful by planting flowers. She hides nothing. The only fear she had was whether the lupine flowers would flourish during winter. She also feared the faraway lands before getting inspired by her grandfather.
Legs
People do several things for fun. Alice loved going for adventures and discovering new things. Going to faraway places seemed fun for her.
Feet
The character’s future is bright through her niece. She was able to convince her niece to make the world a better place through the planting of the flowers. The event seems to be a generational thing as the future awaits.
To make this story better, the author would have brought out another phase on how the niece went ahead to discover new places and make them better through the planting of flowers. The addition would help in insisting on the major themes of the story. It is an excellent story to read and analyze.
Reference
Cooney, B. (1985). Miss Rumphius. Penguin.