6. Important Event

Important Event a) I think that the most important event in the book is when Mattie gets on the train to go to Barnard at the very end of the book. It is important because she is leaving her family and friends to go to a place where she will know no one and live her dream of becoming a writer. That is also the point in the book when she realises Grace's death was no boating accident, but she was murdered by Chester Gillette. Mattie is overwelmed with grief, fear and joy as she leaves. She finds herself wanting to turn back and go home at times but then reminds herself of what she really wants to do with her life. "I look around myself wildly, my heart bursting with grief, fear and joy. I am leaving, but I will take this place and it's stories wherever I go." Once she is on the train she realises that she is doing the right thing and that there is no turning back now. This is her life now. "I reach for his hand and clasp it. He hoist me onto the 10:15 southbound. To Utica and Herkimer. And all points south. To Amsterdam and Albany and beyond. To New York City. To my future. My life."

b) The event show that Mattie is ready to leave home and go and become a successful writer. She doubts herself at first but then gets the courage to step on the train and when she does she realises that she was doing the right thing. The event shows the reader about the setting because Big Moose Lake is very remote and far away from where Mattie is going. It show that she would have no pride if she went away to New York with big hopes but ended up coming back to her family wanting a place to live.