My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece free essay sample

James’ father develops a dangerous alcohol problem and his mother estranges them because she is unacquainted with sufficient methods of dealing with her grief. These background details are introduced prior to the climax of the story and this provides the reader with a more comprehensive understanding of the story, and more importantly the themes. The book is constructed around two key themes, Discrimination and Greif. Family is very appropriately and insightfully entwined into the theme of Greif, as the story is strongly directed by the reaction of individuals to the emotions that afflict them. Jamie’s family has gone into meltdown, escalating in his Mum leaving and his alcoholic Dad deciding to up sticks and move the family including Rose’s twin sister, Jasmine, from London to an isolated, rural area in the Lake District. Jamie is a stoical figure, often wishing life were better but he holds onto the idea that his Mum will come back to them and that his parents will be able to move on from Rose’s death. We will write a custom essay sample on My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The Story examines grief and the ways in which it can tear families apart. Jamie’s Dad is so focussed on his own grief that he becomes blind to the needs of his remaining living family. The heavy-drinking father that is portrayed, I sense, intentionally, was never fully fleshed out. He is mired in racial prejudice, blaming Muslims for all the ills of Britain and more so for the death of his beloved daughter. You take on trust that being mad with grief has created this sodden and sorry excuse for a father because his drinking only occurs during the story whenever Rose arises within conversation. Even he is not beyond redemption and he certainly fares better in the story than the uncaring, absent mother. The reader is shown little about her to arouse sympathy. She is merely an empty figure who has abandoned her children. Pitcher  handles Jamies sad plight very well. The scenes where he is bullied at school are convincing and heart wrenching especially the apathetic response of the teachers. His lonely and bemusing life makes him mournfully reflect at one point: Summers a bit too bright for me . . . autumns better. Everythings bit droopier and you dont feel left out of the fun. This demonstrates Jamie’s character very accurately due to the fact that he is constantly portrayed in a way that is not quite fitting into anything. This quote is evidence of the affect that the story’s very negative themes have on youth and more generally, on the characters involved. Another theme that hold strong throughout the book is that of discrimination. Things look hopeful for Jamie when he makes friends with Sunya. This friendship is the true representative for the theme of discrimination throughout this story in several ways. The first is that Jamie and Sunya are both alienated by their fellow class-mates for reasons that are both racial and social. As a result of this their friendship becomes a  refuge from the maelstrom that is Jamie’s family life and that is the school experience of both Jamie and Sunya. The second way this friendship exhibits strong discriminatory themes is that Sunya is a Muslim and Jamie’s father is a blatant and irrational racist. The unlikely event of Jamie falling in love with Sunya is an addition to the already brooding drama that consumes the main story but also, becomes hugely important in its self because the captivating and delightful romance that begins to form between the two main characters is drastically abolished by Jamie’s furious and disgraced father. Although discrimination interferes frequently with the relationship of Jamie and Sunya, Jamie doesnt let this define his comradeship with a girl who offers him her friendship. As the relationship develops into a charming and resilient friendship, evidence of the purposeless nature of discrimination is made so obvious to the reader that it becomes clear that discrimination of any sort serves only as a futile and destructive means of discharging anger and grief. The strong message being that diversity isnt something to fear, but something to embrace and accept as Jamie does to Sunya. Another very important element to this theme is the way in which Jamie’s outlook on life is conveyed. At one stage he says â€Å"Dad says all Muslims make bombs in their kitchens but Sunya’s dad didn’t look like he made bombs and I think he might have been wrong.. I didn’t tell him though. † This shows that because of Jamie’s youth he is untainted by the strong racial prejudices of his father but also demonstrates the generational influence that occurs in such matters. The themes of book My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece are of great likeness to the short story I studied in class â€Å"The Washerwoman’s Children† by Katherine Mansfield which tells the story of two poor girls who are excluded from society as a result of a social prejudice that is ingrained in their community. Because their lifestyle is humble and their mother was poor they are shunned because they were seen as less valuable than everybody else. This sort of discrimination has great likeness to the many forms of discrimination that are prevalent throughout â€Å"My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece†. The difference that is present between the two stories however is that in overcoming the social discrimination occurs in different ways. In The Washerwoman’s Children, Lillian and Elspeth endure their entire childhood held strictly in exclusion by the discrimination they faced and it is not until they both become very successful and famous that they earn some degree of respect from others because they now had something that others could gain from befriending them. In My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece Jamie’s rare optimism and abstract views mean that he is able to see deeper than the views his father forces on him and he is determined to prove to himself that Sunya is everything his father says, up on realising this is not the case their friendship grows and strengthens providing a very positive outcome and moral in the story. If you discriminate without true knowledge you often lose the opportunity to gain something much more valuable than acceptance. Those who discriminated against Lilian and Elspeth believed that they were only valuable when they had prestigious titles and connections to offer them for popularity. What they never realised is that they were two very intelligent and compassionate children who had invaluable friendship to offer from the very beginning. The novel My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece will make you laugh and cry – Jamie is one of the most credible child narrators I have ever encountered and you feel drawn right into his world. The book deals with some very heavy themes successfully in a way that is both light-hearted and touching. I enjoyed it immensely and I would definitely recommend it to a variety of age groups in the hope that they learn or are reminded of the very precious and useful lessons that I was.