Expository Essay For A Cure For Death By Lightning

Expository Essay

The Cure for Death by Lightning by Gail Anderson-Dargatz is an engaging novel about self-discovery set during World War II. The Weeks' are outsiders that live on a secluded farm near Salmon Arm B.C. and the most complex character in this family is the only daughter, Beth. Beth is neglected by her parents for most of her life, and she is affected by many of the people in her life. Although Beth is initially shy, the experiences and hardships she goes through help her develop into a strong, confident young woman.

In the beginning of the novel Beth Weeks is a shy, isolated, young girl who doesn't know who to trust in this complicated, mixed up world she lives in. Beth is very confused and lost. She sees a mysterious thing that is always chasing her which she later discovers is, "Coyote." She is also feeling very trapped as she hides in her "hollow stump by Turtle Creek" for comfort. She has no one lean on but the people who live on the farm including her mother, father, her brother Dan and the two farm hands Filthy Billy and Dennis. Beth's mother is very passive and doesn't acknowledge her daughter's needs as a young teenage girl, because when Beth needs her most she isn't there for her.

Many aspects of Beth's life revolve around conflicts that she deals with and the people around her. For Beth, meeting a real friend is the best thing that could have happened to her and Nora definitely offers her many opportunities to gain the confidence she so sorely needs: "I loved that feeling she gives me when I'm around her. The feeling that I'm wanted. That I'm loved." Although she has Nora, Beth still has to deal the neglect of her mother and abusiveness of her father. Mr. Weeks abuses her throughout her adolescences but her mother just ignores what is going on and refuses to accept the fact that people are abusing her daughter:

Ð''They came and pushed me down. Parker and Lily Bell and those kids. They took my clothes. Parker, again today, he pushed me down.' Ð''That's nonsense. Lily wouldn't do a thing like that. She's a nice girl.' Ð''They did!' I cried. Ð''It happened.' Ð''Nothing happened! Nothing happened at all. You just don't want to go to school. Don't lie to me. Tell me where you've been all day. Where you go.'

Even though Mrs. Weeks is kind to everyone, the kindness that she portrays is often a curtain that hides the fact that she overlooks the real problems that are going on in the family. For Beth, as all of this is happening, and her world is falling apart: "My name is Beth Weeks. My story takes place in the midst of the Second World War, the year I turned fifteen, the year the world fell apart and began to come together again."

As Beth becomes more mature, she methodically takes on her issues instead of avoiding them and everything starts to become resolved. Near the end of the novel, Nora decides that she is going to leave in search of a better life away from the dreary Turtle Valley. Although this brings Beth sorrow, it also gives her relief because even though Nora was a positive influence, at times she posed as a problem for her. Beth's father also was a huge problem for her, but after he had an episode and burned their neighbor's barn down.