Where Things Come Back John Corey Whaley
The book Where things come back by John Corey Whaley is a book about how everything seems to go down at some point, but all ended up coming into the right place at the end. The story starts off in a small town called Lily—a small town in Arkansan. Cullen Witter’s cousin Oslo died; his aunt went crazy while Cullen finished his last year of high school. After school, he went on a date with a girl his best friend Lucas Cader had to introduce him to—Alma, who had a failed marriage and came back to her hometown. After he came back from the date, he found his brother Gabriel Witter missing, no signs of him anywhere. While Lucas and Cullen searches for their brother and Cullen’s parent went insane, a man named John Barling proclaimed that he saw
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an extricated woodpecker in town, most town people are pretty excited, but Cullen however, feels like it is a stupid idea and disguises Barling. Meanwhile, Cullen broke up with Alma and went off cashing a girl he had liked for a long time—Ada Taylor. At the same time in the book, a different story is happing in a different place, seem unrelated. Benton Sage, a young missionary in Africa found his job unhelpful, he felt that this isn’t what God had wanted him to do, he went back home, his whole family felt disappointed in him and sent him off to a college where he eventually met his roommate—Cabot Searcy. Benton and Cabot went along pretty well, however, Benton suicides. Cabot was originally a rich playboy but went of crazy because he wanted to continue the research Benton had started about life, angle and the book of Enoch. Later, the book told us Alma and Cabot married each other but soon the married failed because Alma can’t bear with Cabot’s understanding if life and always thinking he is appointed by God to save the world. Alma went back to Lily after this married, which connects the beginning of our story. Cabot followed Alma back to Lily and found out she is going on a date with Cullen, he felt angry and wanted to kidnap Cullen to prevent the date. However, he mistook Gabriel instead of his brother and later found out he kidnap the wrong person. Afraid Gabriel would tell the police and Cabot would get in trouble, he kept Gabriel for almost eleven weeks, during these days, he told Gabriel all about want he went through and what he feels like is right; he even thinks that Gabriel was the angel that God sent down to help him. Somehow, in the end, Gabriel was let go by Cabot who finally realized his value.
At the end though, no woodpecker was found by John Barling, Ada Taylor rejected Cullen, and Gabriel—Cullen’s favorite person in the world, came back home.
Q2
The first one I want to write is the use of perspective “My problem was that I wasn't big or tough enough to really protect or defend my little brother in any manner save for my sometimes creative use of sarcasm as a distraction.” (Pg.4-5) This passage is a use of the first person. Cullen is the one speaking. The first person speaking can help us know what is really going on inside the main character’s head. It is easy to identify because the usage of “I”
This is an example of imagery: “Here's the thing about zombies: They are supposed to be killed. You just have to do it. Humans are obligated to kill zombies, just as zombies have an obligation to seek on humans and feast on their flesh.” (Pg.14) In the book, Cullen describes “Quitman” as the zombie. This is an example of using something to describe another thing or person in order to relate his idea into an understandable thing.
Here is another example of the point of view.
“When Benton Sage found out that he would be going on a mission for his church that year, he was overwhelmed with excitement and panic.” (Pg. 16) This time, we are looking at a different story told by a third person. We can tell by the usage of ‘he’. This third person view gave the audience a feeling like reading a story.
This is the tone of the author “People dreamed. People left. And they all came back. It was like Arkansas's version of a black hole; nothing could escape it.” (g.35) since this book is mostly written from Cullen’s point of view, we can see that Cullen’s visions of things are pretty gray. So author used Cullen’s tone of words to tell us what is his idea and his disappointment in the town people.
There is also a quote that is an allegory “It was on this same Thursday that John Barling appeared on the national television to talk about the Lazarus woodpecker and how it had come back from the dead.”( Pg.54-55) this book based on many biblical references, this one about the Lazarus bird might as well refer to the Lazarus in the Bible who is a good friend of Jesus. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, so maybe Barling’s believe of the bird being alive can be related …show more content…
together.
Q3
“In the two weeks following my brother's vanishing off the face of the Earth, my parents seemed to be closer than ever.
My dad had stayed at the house every night, refusing to go on any out-of-town runs or to stay away from my mother for more than a couple of hours at a time.” Pg.57 When Cullen’s brother went missing, his parents must suddenly found the missing part of the meaning of family, they were missing the time spent together, but haven’t realized it until one of their sons is gone. It might seem like they lost something, but that is exactly when the missing part of the family came back.
“Benton Sage had since he was a young boy, one ultimate goal in mind at all times: to make his father proud of him.” Pg.65 this son must really obey his father, which we can identify because of his goal, he loves his family that is why his final goal is to make his father proud. However, he never reached his father’s goal.
“Now, with Oslo gone, my mother had taken to visiting her sister on a daily basis, usually right after she left the salon, and would most often take Julia a sandwich or burger from somewhere, knowing she probably hadn't eaten that day.”Pg.147 This family isn’t the main family on the story, it’s Cullen’s mom’s family after her sister went miserable, she did what she as a sister should do. The book only described her as someone who brings food, but she must’ve done more than that to tack care of her sister. That is the meaning of
family.
“Beverly Ember had given up in those few weeks trying to be directly involved in her granddaughter's life, questioning whether or not she had been overbearing or too noisy. She did, however, still hand Alma a check nearly every week, trusting that she would use it for food or rent.”Pg.165 This is a story between Alma and her grandma. Her grandma wanted the best for her; even if she knew her granddaughter might not be in her best mood, she chooses to believe in the best of her. She still provides her with money and trusted Alma.
“I punched my brother lightly on the right arm the way brothers do to show affection, and we walked over toward the car as Lucas pulled up.” Pg.29 Friends would normally huge each other, even if they punch, it might not always be the best. But even the book told us they play around like loving brothers. This proves that the family loves and can play around. We can tell it a family good or not by knows how they normally chat and play around. Cullen and Gabriel, in fact, proved it.
As you can see, those five quotes from the book provide much information about the idea of family. Whether it’s with Cullen or Benton for Alma. The book states the importance pretty clearly. Only families would care about your life and take care of you even if they knew you may not use it in the right place that is what Alma’s grandma did. Only families would care about each other’s feeling, that is what Benton did, he did what his father wanted not to disappoint him. Only sisters, would take care of each other when one is miserable, keep them on the right track, feed them, and care for them. Maybe we need something to happen in life to remind us how important family is, but the idea won’t go away. Our life may seem horrible at some point; it might seem like it’s all falling apart. That is what families are for, they keep you safe at your weakest time and after you are ready to live to age, they let go of you. They are the shelter for those who are hurt; for those who will later realize everything is going to come back to the right place.
Q4
After reading this book, I cannot give any response at the moment because there is too much story going on the book. The only thing I feel touched is when Gabriel came back to his home. After all these times, his family hasn't given up on him, his brother finally saw him coming back. The universal theme is probably telling people that everything in the world will come back to where it should be. This is a pretty blunt book; it showed what normal life would be, and not what life in a story should be. Is tells us you may not be accepted by the love of your life; you may found something exciting a fail at the end, but in those, there is always something good, something we haven’t realize at the time. This isn’t an emotional book, but author’s idea and his belief of life can be shown through the book pretty clearly. The place where things disappear is where they will come back.
an extricated woodpecker in town, most town people are pretty excited, but Cullen however, feels like it is a stupid idea and disguises Barling. Meanwhile, Cullen broke up with Alma and went off cashing a girl he had liked for a long time—Ada Taylor. At the same time in the book, a different story is happing in a different place, seem unrelated. Benton Sage, a young missionary in Africa found his job unhelpful, he felt that this isn’t what God had wanted him to do, he went back home, his whole family felt disappointed in him and sent him off to a college where he eventually met his roommate—Cabot Searcy. Benton and Cabot went along pretty well, however, Benton suicides. Cabot was originally a rich playboy but went of crazy because he wanted to continue the research Benton had started about life, angle and the book of Enoch. Later, the book told us Alma and Cabot married each other but soon the married failed because Alma can’t bear with Cabot’s understanding if life and always thinking he is appointed by God to save the world. Alma went back to Lily after this married, which connects the beginning of our story. Cabot followed Alma back to Lily and found out she is going on a date with Cullen, he felt angry and wanted to kidnap Cullen to prevent the date. However, he mistook Gabriel instead of his brother and later found out he kidnap the wrong person. Afraid Gabriel would tell the police and Cabot would get in trouble, he kept Gabriel for almost eleven weeks, during these days, he told Gabriel all about want he went through and what he feels like is right; he even thinks that Gabriel was the angel that God sent down to help him. Somehow, in the end, Gabriel was let go by Cabot who finally realized his value.
At the end though, no woodpecker was found by John Barling, Ada Taylor rejected Cullen, and Gabriel—Cullen’s favorite person in the world, came back home.
Q2
The first one I want to write is the use of perspective “My problem was that I wasn't big or tough enough to really protect or defend my little brother in any manner save for my sometimes creative use of sarcasm as a distraction.” (Pg.4-5) This passage is a use of the first person. Cullen is the one speaking. The first person speaking can help us know what is really going on inside the main character’s head. It is easy to identify because the usage of “I”
This is an example of imagery: “Here's the thing about zombies: They are supposed to be killed. You just have to do it. Humans are obligated to kill zombies, just as zombies have an obligation to seek on humans and feast on their flesh.” (Pg.14) In the book, Cullen describes “Quitman” as the zombie. This is an example of using something to describe another thing or person in order to relate his idea into an understandable thing.
Here is another example of the point of view.
“When Benton Sage found out that he would be going on a mission for his church that year, he was overwhelmed with excitement and panic.” (Pg. 16) This time, we are looking at a different story told by a third person. We can tell by the usage of ‘he’. This third person view gave the audience a feeling like reading a story.
This is the tone of the author “People dreamed. People left. And they all came back. It was like Arkansas's version of a black hole; nothing could escape it.” (g.35) since this book is mostly written from Cullen’s point of view, we can see that Cullen’s visions of things are pretty gray. So author used Cullen’s tone of words to tell us what is his idea and his disappointment in the town people.
There is also a quote that is an allegory “It was on this same Thursday that John Barling appeared on the national television to talk about the Lazarus woodpecker and how it had come back from the dead.”( Pg.54-55) this book based on many biblical references, this one about the Lazarus bird might as well refer to the Lazarus in the Bible who is a good friend of Jesus. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, so maybe Barling’s believe of the bird being alive can be related …show more content…
together.
Q3
“In the two weeks following my brother's vanishing off the face of the Earth, my parents seemed to be closer than ever.
My dad had stayed at the house every night, refusing to go on any out-of-town runs or to stay away from my mother for more than a couple of hours at a time.” Pg.57 When Cullen’s brother went missing, his parents must suddenly found the missing part of the meaning of family, they were missing the time spent together, but haven’t realized it until one of their sons is gone. It might seem like they lost something, but that is exactly when the missing part of the family came back.
“Benton Sage had since he was a young boy, one ultimate goal in mind at all times: to make his father proud of him.” Pg.65 this son must really obey his father, which we can identify because of his goal, he loves his family that is why his final goal is to make his father proud. However, he never reached his father’s goal.
“Now, with Oslo gone, my mother had taken to visiting her sister on a daily basis, usually right after she left the salon, and would most often take Julia a sandwich or burger from somewhere, knowing she probably hadn't eaten that day.”Pg.147 This family isn’t the main family on the story, it’s Cullen’s mom’s family after her sister went miserable, she did what she as a sister should do. The book only described her as someone who brings food, but she must’ve done more than that to tack care of her sister. That is the meaning of
family.
“Beverly Ember had given up in those few weeks trying to be directly involved in her granddaughter's life, questioning whether or not she had been overbearing or too noisy. She did, however, still hand Alma a check nearly every week, trusting that she would use it for food or rent.”Pg.165 This is a story between Alma and her grandma. Her grandma wanted the best for her; even if she knew her granddaughter might not be in her best mood, she chooses to believe in the best of her. She still provides her with money and trusted Alma.
“I punched my brother lightly on the right arm the way brothers do to show affection, and we walked over toward the car as Lucas pulled up.” Pg.29 Friends would normally huge each other, even if they punch, it might not always be the best. But even the book told us they play around like loving brothers. This proves that the family loves and can play around. We can tell it a family good or not by knows how they normally chat and play around. Cullen and Gabriel, in fact, proved it.
As you can see, those five quotes from the book provide much information about the idea of family. Whether it’s with Cullen or Benton for Alma. The book states the importance pretty clearly. Only families would care about your life and take care of you even if they knew you may not use it in the right place that is what Alma’s grandma did. Only families would care about each other’s feeling, that is what Benton did, he did what his father wanted not to disappoint him. Only sisters, would take care of each other when one is miserable, keep them on the right track, feed them, and care for them. Maybe we need something to happen in life to remind us how important family is, but the idea won’t go away. Our life may seem horrible at some point; it might seem like it’s all falling apart. That is what families are for, they keep you safe at your weakest time and after you are ready to live to age, they let go of you. They are the shelter for those who are hurt; for those who will later realize everything is going to come back to the right place.
Q4
After reading this book, I cannot give any response at the moment because there is too much story going on the book. The only thing I feel touched is when Gabriel came back to his home. After all these times, his family hasn't given up on him, his brother finally saw him coming back. The universal theme is probably telling people that everything in the world will come back to where it should be. This is a pretty blunt book; it showed what normal life would be, and not what life in a story should be. Is tells us you may not be accepted by the love of your life; you may found something exciting a fail at the end, but in those, there is always something good, something we haven’t realize at the time. This isn’t an emotional book, but author’s idea and his belief of life can be shown through the book pretty clearly. The place where things disappear is where they will come back.