Walk Two Moons
By Sharon Creech
SUMMARY
Salamanca Hiddle, who everybody calls Sal, goes on an adventure with her grandparents and along the way tells a story that is very closely related to her own. After her mothers disappearance her and her dad pick up there stuff and move from there small town, Bybanks, Kentucky, to Euclid, Ohio. The stories she tells are about her time in Euclid and meeting Pheobe Winterbottom, who becomes her bestfriend.
Thesis Sentence: Symbolism
The author uses three examples of symbolism to help her main character, Salamanca Hiddle, overcome personal tragedies in her life.
Tulips
There are many times in the story were tulips are used to symbolize something meaningful to Sal. Sugar, Sals mom, just annonced that she is leaving. She had not been well and Sal had begged to go with her, but Sugar said that she could not miss school and that her father needed her. "She wanted me to know that she would think of me every minute and that she would be back before the tulips bloomed. But, of course, she was not back before the tulips bloomed."(pg.110) This symbol is significant to Sal because it gives her a time limit to when her mom is expected to be back. It helps her understand that her mom just needs a little bit of time away and that she will be back. Of course, she never makes it back.
Sals mom is about nine months pregnant and is going into labor. When the baby is born they discover it's dead. This creates a huge impact on the mom. They try to come up with the perfect name before they bury the dead baby girl. "The name came to me from the air. 'Tulip' I said. My father smiled 'Your mother will like that.'" (149) When the baby dies Sal knows that naming her Tulip will mean a lot to her mom. It helps the whole family cope with the tragedy by relating it with something that to them symbolizes happiness.
Blackberries
Blackberries are an important symbol to Sal because she has had quite a few good memories with her mom. When Sal goes over to Phoebes for the first time, Pheobe's mom offers her blackberry pie. Phoebe's mother starts to worry when she gets the impression that Sal doesn't like blackberry pie."No,' I said ' I like blackberries very much just have some allergies, I think" (pg. 21-22) When Sal is refusing to eat the blackberries it's because it reminds her too much of her mother. She doesn't want to tell this to anyone because she doesn't like to admit that her mother is dead. This same day, after dinner when Sal gets in bed she starts thinking about her mom. "And then I started thinking about the blackberries, and I remebered the time my mother and I walked around the rims of the fields and pastures in Bybanks, picking blackberries." (32-33) When Sal is remebering this time, she is thinking about all of the ways her mother used to tell her about how to pick blackberries. The couldnt pick from the top or the bottom because the top where for the birds and the bottom where for the rabbits.
Singing Trees
Every tree to Sal is a singing tree. Her mom always loved trees with a passion. Sal is having a flashback to when she sat by her favorite tree and listened to the birds sing. "I saw no birds only the leaves waving in the breeze. The longer I stared up at the tree, the more I believed that it was the tree singing."(pg. 100) This symbolizes Sals connection with trees because this happenes the day before they find out her mother is not coming back. She goes back to that tree to listen often afterwords. Sometimes it sings others times it doesn't. It helps Sal cope with the fact that her moms not coming back, by distracting her temporarily. Sal is finally arriving at her mothers grave and she goes up and kisses the willow. She hears the tree singing but she doesn't look too closely for she is scared see a bird. "She isn't actually dead. Shes singing in the trees." This is Sals big moment in the book. It's why she went in the road trip in the first place. This is important to Sal because she is finally getting the closure she needs. The whole story she knows her mom is dead but doesn't want to believe it, and doesn't have to believe it because she doesn't have proof. There is a tiny bit of hope left in her that her mother is still there somewhere.
Conclusion
Sal remembers her mom through the three symbols throughout the story. She has flashbacks that offer closure but what she really need is to see her mom in person. Thoughout the story she learns that living in secret sorrow about her mom isnt going to help her. When she remembers these three symbols they help her remember certain things she wants to remember, but isn't thinking about her mother and relating her to everything all ther time.