Building Understanding: Whirligig and the Theme of Interconnectedness

Title: Everything is Connected.   Your name:Alex Redwood

Which Essential Question(s) is addressed in this piece of literature? Content:

a)    What happens in the text/movie/Talk?

b)    What is the main message/theme?

Understanding:

How does the text answer the EQ?

Answer in full sentences. Record relevant quotes and page numbers/lines if needed.

How does the influence of others impact our own lives? There are multiple themes in this book, but I’ve decided to focus on the theme of interconnectedness, and this theme talks about how everything in the world is somehow connected to one another, almost like a web. An small action that is preformed one one side of the world could affect someone on the other side of it. mabi logoSomehow, in some way, everything is connected. Your actions in one place can have a ripple effect across the WORLD.

I feel like this book’s main theme is interconnectedness. Think back to the very beginning, where Lea was just a normal, very successful kid, brightening up the whole room with her smile. Now she’s all over the United States in the form of whirligigs, influencing everyone’s life for the better.

In The Afterlife, Brent begins to think of the word karass, and it’s a term for a goup of people that are someone connected; linked together without even knowing it. He believed that Lea was for sure, part of his karass. Lea was a woman that Brent didn’t know of until he killed her in a car crash. And because he killed her in this car crash, he’s now sent across America building whriligigs with her face on them. These whirligigs end up influencing tons of people’s lives, changing them for the better. Who would have thought a typical girl would end up marking her spot all over America, helping people through the tough times of their life.

In Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, two people attempt to rob him of his belongings. He alerts the bus drivers in time for the muggers to back off, but then he has this thought, “It dawned on him why animals lived in heards,” and this is connected to Miami, Florida, where Flaco sees the shearwaters for the first time, and he’s surprised to see them flying in a flock. Fighting over fish. He’s disappointed to see them flying in a group because he saw them on TV flying alone, looking majestic and all. When he gets backs, he also sees a wooden marching band. It’s a whirligig that Brent made. This whirligig told Flaco, “Birds don’t live alone. They live in flcoks. Like people. People are always in a group. Like that little wooden band.”