Lit. Analysis :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most people are kind to strangers. For example, they might be willing to return a purse, or perhaps take two lost people into their home. Or, in some cases, you would keep a secret or something about the others’ lifestyle, to yourself. All this is seen in the short story â€Å"Searching for Summer† by Joan Aiken. In this paper, I intend to prove to you that the above statements are true.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the story â€Å"Searching for Summer†, two young people, Tom and Lily, are married. At this time, the sun was hidden behind large clouds from, possibly , a nuclear blast. This is not made clear to the reader in the story. For their honeymoon, Tom and Lily went off in search of the sun. they motorbike that they were driving on broke down so they stopped in the town of Molesworth. They met an elderly lady and her blind son at a bus stop. When they realized that the lady had left her purse, they decided to return it to her at her home into the woods. When they arrived, they discovered that the sun always shone at William and his mother‘s cabin. When they returned to the town to retrieve the fixed motorbike, they kept the sun secret to themselves when asked about it by the nosy innkeeper and left.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tom and Lily were kind to the elderly pair when they hardly knew them. They brought the old lady’s purse to her. â€Å"She walked so slowly.....I think we ought to take it to her, don’t you Tom?† (676). To me this quote shows how Lily is willing to help a person she doesn’t even know. Another time that this trait is shown is when we find out that Lily is still wearing her wedding sandals on the walk to the old lady’s home, even though it is painful. â€Å"Lily was still wearing her wedding sandals......†(676). Not very many people would be willing to go through pain and agony to return a purse. I know that I might consider waiting until I had more comfortable shoes. But this just goes to prove that some people are just kinder than others to strangers. But they aren’t the only ones in this story who are this way.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  William and his mother show kindness to Tom and Lily in the story. When Tom and Lily arrive at their cabin, the old lady shows much gratitude and invites them in, even though she has just met them.