Period 1/2
4-22-2010
Dear Ms. Monaco,
I have recently read the book Hush, by Donna Jo Napoli. It is a story based on an Icelandic Tale about a mute slave, named Melkorka, who is brought from Russia to Iceland. In the tale, the chieftain knows nothing of her or her background. Melkorka has a child and begins to speak Gaelic to it and he finds out that she is not really muted. She then tells him that she was an Irish princess who was taken by a slave trader. The author then created a history for Melkorka based on historical facts about Ireland, Russia, and Scandinavia during the 900's.
The character development was great throughout the book. It was really showed how Melkorka changed from thinking highly of herself to thinking about how living would be.The change from a princess to a slave was very quick – when she gets taken she is almost exactly the same, just in denial almost. She still believes that this should not have happened to her because she is royalty. She is not really thinking of what struggles might come, she is worried about when she died no one will be able to identify her as a princess! But then you can really tell how her view is widened to see all the different sides of things.
One example of when Melkorka is changing is when she recalls a conversaion with one of her slave boys before she was taken. He said that the owners did very cruel things and that they were just whisked away, just like that. Instead of feeling anything for him, she scold him and says he should never talk like that to her. After she remembers that conversation, it was almost like something clicked inside her and she realized ‘so that was what he meant by being “whisked away”’.
A quote that really stood out to me was, “’You are right to keep your voice to yourself, Aist’ she says into my ear. ‘Hush, you are the one who started this silence – you have to keep it up. Or lose yourself. He’ll just snuff you out.’ She makes a puff of hot air that warms my brain. ‘Like that, like a lamp flame. A slave life counts for nothing unless the slave finds a trick. You’ve found yours. Stick to it. Hush.’ I don’t understand. But I will hold my tongue. The last person who told me to hush was Mother.
I chose this quote for many reasons. The main reason was that this is what helped Melkorka survive. Since she came from royalty, she probably would have just given up and not tried to survive. She was used to being served and not having to work at anything. But surviving was really the only thing she could do, and it had meaning. Her sister was the one who inspired her to be silent, her mother told her to hush, and she loved both of them so much. Another reason why I chose this is because it reflects part of what I thought the theme was: perseverance or to keep going. Melkorka could have just let herself go, but instead she found a reason to live, which is really inspiring.
I was shocked at how well the author used foreshadowing. There were countless amounts of times that an event was foreshadowed, but there were a few that I really liked. One of them was when Melkorka and Brigid, her sister, saw the storks. In that section, it mentions a part where all of the storks start making this noise with their beaks. Melkorka then asks why they don’t use their voices and Brigid replies, “Did you think the vampire Dearg-due had struck them mute?” I did not realize it until I reread the section, but it was foreshadowing and symbolizing Melkorka. She was the person who was believed to be an enchantress who turns into a stork and did not use her voice, but made herself noticeable. Then the vampire represented the slave traders. They “struck her mute” and she became silent to save her life. Another part where the stork’s foreshadowed was when Melkorka got the three stork feathers from the nest. She was so determined to get them and was going to use them to cheer up Bridid if she was feeling sad, but really they were used to lift Melkorka's spirits when she was about to give up.
Another thing that I thought was foreshadowed was the use of slavery. The author did a great job of setting up a problem, not only by having a slave cut Nuada, Melkorka’s brother’s arm off, she had the characters voice their opinion. It was almost ironic how Melkora and her Mother thought that slaves were incomparable to themselves, especially when Nuada was cut. Melkorka, at the time was at the silversmilth wondering how he worked without even a lowly slave to help him. The while they were back home, they all learned that Nuada was mistaken for a slave. The irony comes in where Melkorka believes that slaves, no matter what they have gone though should almost not even have rights or be able to have feelings. Then she gets taken by a slave-trader and she wishes so deeply for all of the old feelings she had.
I think that the story really relates to the book, “The Giver.” Melkorka is almost experiencing the same thing as Jonas. However, instead of Jonas’s futuristic society, she was having almost a fantasy life but was aware of the difficulties. Melkorka knew that there was more to slavery than just work, but when she was introduced to the new version of life, she was so unprepared. I really do think that the experiences are almost identical, just in different time periods.
I really enjoyed this book and would strongly recommend it for almost anybody! I hope if you read it you will love it too!
Sincerely,
Maddie Fung
