Themes Of A Painted House By John Grisham - 1680 Words

Themes in A Painted House A Painted House by John Grisham is a coming of age novel written in the perspective of a 7- year-old boy named Luke Chandler. The book takes place in rural Arkansas and it tells the tale of a boy whose childhood is scarred by the traumatizing events he witnesses as a child. In the novel, Luke witnesses murder, true love and fear of death, all of which force him to grow up and mature into a man. The themes in A Painted House are secrets and secret lives, family and coming of age. One theme in A Painted House is the theme of secrets and secret lives. Luke keeps secrets from his parents many times in the book and this means that they do not know what Luke has seen and done. They have little knowledge of the†¦show more content†¦There was a faint ringing in my wars. The world was moving slower. I just wanted a place to hide. ‘Nothin’,’ I said. Even my voice was different –low and scratchy. ‘You still tired?’ †˜Yes ma’am’ And I’d be tired for a month if it kept me out of the fields and away from Cowboy.† (p. 337-338) Instead of doing the right thing and immediately report Cowboy’s crime, Luke decides to keep Cowboy’s crime a secret because he fears that Cowboy will harm him and his family if he exposes him. Luke keeping Cowboy’s crime a secret also means that no one but Luke knows that Cowboy is a killer, suggesting the theme of secret lives. The moments where Luke keeps secrets from his family Another theme in A Painted House is the theme of family. Luke has a strong and close relationship with his family and he shows it when he demonstrates how much he cares about them. One member in his family that he especially cares about is Ricky, his uncle who is fighting in Korea. Luke often worries that his brother will not come home alive and often spends times in his brother’s room, waiting for the day he arrives home safely. â€Å"What if he didn’t come home? It was the question I tortured myself with every night. I thought about him dying until I cried. I didn’t want his bed. I didn’t want his room. I wanted Ricky home, so we could run bases in the front yard and throw baseballs against the barn and fish in the St. Francis. He was really more of a big brotherShow MoreRelatedA Painted House Vocabulary1687 Words   |  7 PagesA Painted House John Grisham Aja Fitzgerald Ament Period 1 VOCABULARY Chapters 1-11 1. Scrutinized(9)- to examine in detail with attention. 2. Oscillate(33)- to vibrate. 3. Ominous(41)- threatening. 4. Imperative(41)- unavoidable. 5. Uncanny(47)- beyond the ordinary. 6. Concoction(51)- mixture, blend. 7. Impediment(53)- a speech disorder. 8. Inadvertently(63)- unintentional. 9. Jurisdiction(66)- control. 10. Gaunt(67)- extremely thin. 11. Quota(71)- ones share of a total amount. 12. Penchant(75)-Read MoreCase Study on Sears Essay9006 Words   |  37 PagesThe company diversified into financial services in the early 1980s, acquiring the Dean Witter brokerage and realtor Coldwell Banker. The aim of the purchases was to create a giant supermarket of both goods and services, so that consumers could buy a house, finance it, insure it, and stock it with furniture -- all under the same roof. Wall Street referred to the diversification as a stocks and socks strategy. The financial services performed superbly -- improving the companys earnings from 1984