Ninth Ward
Book By: Jewell Parker Rhodes
Summary
Born with a caul, 12-year-old Lanesha can see and sometimes communicate with spirits. Her and her guardian, former midwife Mama Ya-Ya, have dreams and visions that foretell the future. They're happy, although they are poor. Life in the New Orleans Ninth Ward is suddenly disrupted by news of a powerful storm approaching. Mama Ya-Ya knows it will get bad, but she has no means to get Lanesha out of the city. Knowing she herself will soon die, the young girl and her friend TaShon get through Hurricane Katrina safely. The two children must confront not only the intense storm and Mama Ya-Ya’s death, but rapidly rising flood waters to survive.
Lanesha lives in a tight-knit community in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward. She doesn’t have a fancy house like her uptown family or lots of friends like other kids on her street. Although she does have Mama Ya-Ya, her fiercely loving caretaker. Mama Ya-Ya is able to see in the ways of the world and able to predict the future. When Mama Ya-Ya’s visions show a powerful hurricane, Katrina, fast approaching, it’s up to Lanesha to call upon the hope and strength Mama Ya-Ya has given her to help them both survive the storm.
Protagonist(s)
Antagonist(s)
How Does the Setting Affect the Plot
Genre: Fiction
Point of View
The point of view from which this story is told is by Lanesha, (first person). This is important because if it was told from someone else’s point of view, you wouldn’t be able to know Lanesha’s thoughts and feelings. You also wouldn’t be able to know how her experience was. This is also important because
if the story wasn’t told by first person, the person telling the story might leave out an important event while telling the story. They might even add some things that are not even true.Book was Published: September 2012
Theme
Point of View
The point of view from which this story is told is by Lanesha, (first person). This is important because if it was told from someone else’s point of view, you wouldn’t be able to know Lanesha’s thoughts and feelings. You also wouldn’t be able to know how her experience was. This is also important because
if the story wasn’t told by first person, the person telling the story might leave out an important event while telling the story. They might even add some things that are not even true.External Conflict(s)
The main external conflicts in this story are nature vs. character. These conflicts are between the hurricane and all of the characters trying to avoid and get away from it. This is a conflict because the characters are afraid that the huge storm will possibly kill them.
By: Maria Stoller