Illumination Night Essay
In the book titled Illumination Night, Alice Hoffman has clearly defined each character, attributing to them the most unique and distinctive traits, but giving enough 'elbow room' for parallelism between them. As the characters struggle with family relationships, social acceptance, restriction and betrayal, they are forced to cooperate with one another; they "can't afford to be nasty to each other when the live on an island. No matter where they go, they're bound to run into each other" (Illumination 35). The novel goes on to detail six, interlocking and often colliding lives, some of which include: Vonny, an agoraphobic mother who "didn't [use to] think twice about mixing Valium and gin"(I.14); Simon, Vonny's four year-old boy who has never heard the word "death" and "refuses to be any older until he is taller"(I.36); Jody, a teenage girl who has always been "well practiced at manipulation"(I.31); and The Giant, a "beautiful" freak, who's height "put an end to [his parents'] marriage"(I.117). Even though the characters seldom speak to one another about what matters the most to them, they echo one another in their thoughts and actions. Between the Giant and Simon, there is a wordless empathy that is shared, one that is able t
o help both accept their identity, and their height; Vonny turns to the pets in her house as a source of empathy; Vonny also shares common characteristics and traits with Jody, which help both of them deal with the everyday burdens of life. Eddie once saw himself as the "creature beneath the bridge who devoured goats" (I. 47), she becomes grateful that this flaw does not take on a physical form, as she thinks that she pities herself enough already. When Vonny is with Jody, it is as though Vonny is "reaching back for the sixteen year old girl she once was" (I. The importance of these connections gives Hoffman's novel a point of centralization, a common ground where her characters were allowed to flourish and develop into the remarkable figures that she had set out to accomplish. "One day Simon leaves the door ajar and Vonny finds the rabbit on the doorstep, terrified by the cold open space stretching out in front of her" (I. The Giant is obviously aware of how people see him, they think of him as the 'freak'. The giant, too, soon accepts who he is; "He lies down in the grass and, stretching himself out to his full height, looks upward, through the green leaves" (I. Jody is the only character that thinks in depth about Vonny, she also "wonders sometimes if Vonny is the only person who understands her", and this is how Vonny feels in return.
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Acceptance Essays
