Whirligig Essay-descriptions and how they affected their viewer
In Whirligig by Paul Fleischman, Brent travels to the four corners of the United States of America and builds whirligigs on his mission of repentance. Each Whirligig has a unique appearance and meets the needs of it’s (observer?) in a different way.
The first whirligig was put in a state park near Puget Sound. Being Brent’s first whirligig , he had a little trouble creating it. Originally, it was supposed to be an angel playing a full sized orchestral harp, but he accidentally broke off it’s wing while he was filing it. Afterwards, it became just an ordinary human who looked as if she was playing the harp when the wind blew.
The key observer of this whirligig was Tony, a 5th grader, who wants to play baseball but is forced to play violin instead. When he went camping with his family over the summer, his mother spotted it and used it as reinforcement to practice his instrument. “Remember the harp player Anthony, always practicing” she would say. This finally pushed him over the edge, he found a way to get out of practicing and messed up horribly at his big rehearsal. Afterwards, his teacher told him that if the whirligig played all the time, it would break. Then he quit and followed his baseball dreams.
The second whirligig was made in San Diego and placed on the porch of a youth hostel there. This wind toy depicted a whale whose spout went up and down in the wind. After realizing that Lea was not in this whirligig Brent added a mermaid to the top of the whale’s spout.
The viewer of this whirligig is Jenny’s grandmother. She came to the states after World War II with the memories of those that died in the concentration camps still plaguing her. This toy showed her that she should live a life of laughing, not sadness. And that you should live all the laughs that were taken away from them.
The third whirligig was made in a beachside parking lot in Tampa, Florida. It featured a marching band that had a trombonist, a trumpeter, a clarinetist, and a drummer.
The first whirligig was put in a state park near Puget Sound. Being Brent’s first whirligig , he had a little trouble creating it. Originally, it was supposed to be an angel playing a full sized orchestral harp, but he accidentally broke off it’s wing while he was filing it. Afterwards, it became just an ordinary human who looked as if she was playing the harp when the wind blew.
The key observer of this whirligig was Tony, a 5th grader, who wants to play baseball but is forced to play violin instead. When he went camping with his family over the summer, his mother spotted it and used it as reinforcement to practice his instrument. “Remember the harp player Anthony, always practicing” she would say. This finally pushed him over the edge, he found a way to get out of practicing and messed up horribly at his big rehearsal. Afterwards, his teacher told him that if the whirligig played all the time, it would break. Then he quit and followed his baseball dreams.
The second whirligig was made in San Diego and placed on the porch of a youth hostel there. This wind toy depicted a whale whose spout went up and down in the wind. After realizing that Lea was not in this whirligig Brent added a mermaid to the top of the whale’s spout.
The viewer of this whirligig is Jenny’s grandmother. She came to the states after World War II with the memories of those that died in the concentration camps still plaguing her. This toy showed her that she should live a life of laughing, not sadness. And that you should live all the laughs that were taken away from them.
The third whirligig was made in a beachside parking lot in Tampa, Florida. It featured a marching band that had a trombonist, a trumpeter, a clarinetist, and a drummer.