Heidi Durrow's The Girl Who Fell From The Sky

1021 Words5 Pages
Escape Ever since our childhood, it is our nature to run away from what hurts us. As toddlers we run from bees, fearing their painful sting. As we grow older, we still follow these same tendencies. If a man on the street scares you, you avoid him, escaping what you think has the potential to cause you pain. Adults teach children from a very young age to face their fears; however it is our very nature to avoid them. In Heidi Durrow’s novel, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, she uses multiple character perspectives to demonstrate that we cannot simply live with our pain; that in order to survive we must find some way to escape it. Rachel suffers through an incredibly traumatic event whose memory will never leave her. The death of a majority…show more content…
She stays with a man after he is at direct fault for the death of their first child. She too carries the guilt of leaving Charles with him, but copes with this by drinking. When she decides to become sober she can no longer live with the pain of staying with Roger, and so she decides to run away and leave for America with her children. As a mother she always thinks of them first, and believes America will provide a better life for them. When she realizes her horrible mistake it is too late, she sees her children suffering in this new land and sees them abused by a man she thought could take away their pain. Doug eventually ends up treating Nella and her kids just as bad if not worse than Roger. With her commitment to avoid alcohol, Nella must live in the world fully conscious that her decision has brought her children nothing but more pain. The guilt of the death of Charles returns, and she feels like she once again is leaving her children without hope or joy. She decides that she cannot provide any help for them now, and that the best decision she can make for them now is to take them away from the world, seeing as it only causes them pain. She decides to end her and their lives, in order to make a final escape, one that will not
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    about the possibility that life can be different if they leave the past behind. In Heidi Durrow’s novel, The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, Rachel, a young girl who is afraid of what her future will be like because of her past. But while she fears that her past will hinder her future, she realizes that she can start anew, because not even the past is permanent. Rachel, acting as “new girl” is seen as a pariah, who feels out of place. With nowhere to go and no one to look to, she turns to her imaginary

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