Imagine a life of constant hardships, where every choice you make can determine your entire future. Imagine the dream you hold on to your entire childhood gets shattered. Imagine, at the age of 18 years old, you get put on death row. Set in North Carolina during Luke and Toby’s senior year of high school, this story captures the hardships and adversity that the best friends endure every day. Right away in the book, the old, abandoned plane in the middle of the woods plays a significant role in the story. This is an anchor in Luke and Toby’s lives. This is a place where they would play for hours when they were kids, or huddle in the capsule when life at home was hard. It’s also where their dream of flying away and leaving behind all their troubles first began. The plane is a symbol of safety, security, stability, and hope. This also shows the reader the firm foundation on which Luke and Toby’s friendship rests upon. They have a strong bond of trust and closeness. They suffer through all their hardships together. As the story gradually progresses, however, a series of events occurs where their trust becomes less and less stable. The introduction of two new women in their lives, for example, tests their loyalty. Along with that, throughout the story, the story flashes forward to Luke on death row. We read the letters Luke writes to Toby in his cell. The tone of Luke shifts between his letters on death row and his life before. He relays his relationships between the other inmates and reflects on his broken childhood, along with the strong friendship bond him and Toby shared. This story shifted my perspective in that it woke me to how privileged and fortunate I am. Of course, I’ve always known how privileged and fortunate I am, but this story made me realize that people all around me can be struggling in life. In other words, people don’t have to look a certain way or act a certain way to have a less fortunate, less privileged life. Even people I sit next to in school, people I pass by in the hallway, it’s very likely some endure the same ordeals Luke or Toby did. That also makes me realize that these people have much greater stress in their lives and face many more hardships than I do. This created more empathy for me because the story allowed me to dive into these types of lifestyles and made me feel what they were feeling. For example, I felt the same frustration Luke felt toward his mother for not supporting the family. I felt Toby’s frustration toward everyone’s pitying eyes who felt bad but didn’t care enough to help out. I felt Luke’s helplessness on death row, and the feeling of being unheard. I felt the betrayal Toby felt when Luke chose others over him. All of these examples sent me through a rollercoaster of emotions that ultimately, by the end of the story, gave me a certain awareness for those who have lives like Luke and Toby. -Nora L
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AuthorSTenth grade students at Decorah High School share how they're reading outside of their own experiences and how it has changed them. Categories
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November 2022
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