EXPECTATIONS FOR THE RESOLUTION

By the time you’ve finished your novel, you should have an understanding of one or more of its themes. Thus, your final response for the novel must demonstrate an understanding of one of the themes in the novel.

In the book “In The After” written by Demitria Lunetta the main theme is that people have to push their limits in order to survive and save others. The recurring theme throughout the book is survival. An example of this theme shown in the book is when the protagonist, Amy runs out of food. She has to push herself to get out of her house to scavenge for food, “It took me twenty minutes to work up the nerve to open the front door. The lock clicked open, painfully loud. I checked to make sure They weren’t waiting for me at the fence…I walked slowly, carefully placing each foot on the sidewalk to avoid making noise. The night was windy which made me jumpy. Any movement of a bush or tree and I froze. After constant stalling, I had force myself to calm down again…I made myself focus into the darkness and went straight to the canned food aisle, frantically filling my backpack with corn, soup, tuna fish, anything I could get my hands on.” (21-23). This quote shows the reader that the protagonist doesn’t want to go outside of her electric fenced house because there are aliens, but she has to force herself to go find food in order to survive.

Another example of what Amy has to do to survive is when she and Baby have to learn sign language to communicate to each other to avoid attracting the aliens, “I tried to comfort her, but I knew I needed some way to communicate with her. Vocalization was out of the question, voices always drew Them, and I did not want Them constantly testing the fence… I dug out my dad’s book on sign language and began to teach her and myself. Through the years we’ve modified our language to fit our purpose. We sign into each other’s hands when we’re near. Now, we can have an entire silent conversation moving only our fingers, but when we started I used only a few simple words. Food. Quiet. Bad. Good. Baby.” (31-32). The main theme of survival is repeated as Amy has to try and stay alive by learning the sign language.

The last example of the main theme of survival in the book “In the After”, is when Amy is saving the children at school who are being attacked by aliens, “There was a Florae to my left. I knew it had spotted me because of it frenzied snarl and its sudden galloping strides. I turned and shot it in the

shoulder, which barely slowed it down. I re-aimed and managed to get its neck. Its momentum threw it forward and it fell at my feet, its head flopping to the side. Black-green blood spurted and I jumped back. I didn’t want the scent of blood on me. I needed to make every shot a headshot, or I would just piss them off… I crept along the shadows to the school, where dorms took up the two top floors. Those kids were all sitting ducks, but I didn’t know what I would do when I ran out of bullets.” (336-337). This quote shows the recurring idea that the protagonist, Amy is willing to push her limits and come out of her comfort zone to save the children in the school from hungry aliens.

MULTI-MEDIAMake a collage. Combine images in a mosaic that illustrates key ideas from the plotline but mostly focuses on theme(s).  Use photovisi.com or scrapwalls.com or shapecollage.com or some other site to create your collage. Or  cut out words and images from magazines and scan your collage.

Why you chose this form.

How it links to the text.

Which literary concepts (plot, characters, theme, symbols) your

multimedia piece explores.

What choices you made as you designed and constructed your

multimedia piece and the reason/s why.

This is your chance to explain the thinking that went into your multimedia piece and to show why it is a valid expression of your ideas.

The book I read is “In The After” written by Demitria Lunetta. I choose to make a collage for my multimedia project because I think it is a great way to deliver the theme in the book, which is survival. This multimedia project links to the text because the text response is about understanding one of the themes in the book. My multimedia project also relates to the theme of survival by creating a collage to deliver the theme in the book. The literary concept that is in this multimedia project is theme because I selected images that are related to the theme of the book. The choices that I made as I designed and constructed my multimedia piece were that I had to include a picture about surviving an alien attack and the plotline that was happening throughout the story. I need to include survival in my collage because it is the main theme of the book.

Wider ReadingI really enjoyed this book “In The After” because the author, Demitria Lunetta made the story very suspenseful and mysterious. An example is when Amy and Baby runs out of food and have to go outside to scavenge for food, clothes, and other useful objects putting herself and Baby in grave danger. This book has unexpected plots and has a twist which is very engaging to read. This book is really descriptive so I can imagine the plot clearly in my head.