View a FREE sample

1. What are some ways in which Janisse shows her parents that she is a tomboy who likes to be outside in nature more than she enjoys any other activities?

Janisse rebels against the weekly piano lessons her father makes her take, finally telling him that he is wasting money on her since she would rather be outside. Even from the time Janisse was very small, she would run out into the family's property to climb trees, quietly hiding while her mother called her name and looked for her everywhere. Eventually her mother resorted to attaching large jingle bells to Janisse's shoes so that her mother could find her when she needed her.

2. What is the author's purpose in relating the fact that her parents told their children false stories about their births?

By telling the reader that her parents told Janisse and her siblings that they'd been "found" (6) in various places within the local landscape rather than telling them their actual birth stories, the author accomplishes two goals. First, she is able to demonstrate to the reader that her parents were extremely religious and protective of the children as far as knowledge of sex was concerned. The reader learns later that the family's religious beliefs are so strict that the children were forbidden to wear bathing suits, even just in front of one another. The second goal that this admission accomplishes is to show the reader how close Janisse felt to the land and to the natural environment in which she had been born. It is as if her parents had foreseen how passionate Janisse would be about environmental issues and how much she would love nature. This story of Janisse being "found" (6) by her parents even involves Janisse being discovered on a bed of pine needles, echoing her coming passion for the protection and restoration of the longleaf pine.

(read all 60 Short Essay Questions and Answers)

This section contains 6,483 words (approx. 22 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample