Post #5 Social Issues

Weyn, Suzanne. Distant Waves. New York: Scholastic, 2009. Print.

The underlying issue of the novel Distant Waves by Suzanne Weyn is discrimination of race and being a women. The time period is set from the late 1800s to the early 1900s.

"'It might make your life harder if people knew,' I said, thinking only of Mimi's happiness. 'You know how things are in this country.'" (Weyn 68). In this quotation the main character, Jane, is speaking to her older sister about what it would be like if Mimi told everyone that her real mother was a "black Haitian" (Weyn 66). The history of Canada did have racism and that is why this is plausible within the story.


"It's bad enough that as a woman I can't vote" (Weyn 50). This quote is when Jane's mother tells her that she does not want to be married again. She is a single mother and is okay with being single because it does give her some rights. 
These issues are purposeful within the story because it gives a background of the time period. It makes the story plausible within the time period written and therefore makes the overall story more enjoyable to read. 

Post #4 Significance of...

Frank, Anne. The Diary of a Young Girl. The United States of America: Doubleday, 1967. Print. 

I am at the point in the book where the Frank family has gone into hiding. The hiding place is on the third floor of an office building. A quote I found significant is "We have forbidden Margot to cough at night, although she has a bad cold, and make her swallow large doses of codeine." (Frank, 21)  This helps us understand the character's relationship to the setting because the Frank family are in hiding and need to be quiet at all times, so that no one will be able to find them or suspect there are others in the building.
"The knocking, pulling, pushing, and wrenching went on. I nearly fainted at the thought that this utter stranger might discover our beautiful secret hiding place." (Frank, 41) This quote is significant to the story because it creates suspense and maintains the atmosphere. It gets you wondering who is behind the door and what is going to happen to Anne. This quote maintains the atmosphere because it keeps it a scary isolated environment. Through this quote you can feel the underlying fear that the Franks must live through everyday. The fear that at any moment they could be taken away to a concentration camp or even be killed.