Summer Of The Monkeys

The novel

"Summer of the Monkeys", written by Wilson Rawls. Wilson Rawls is famous for closing the gap between the readers and the characters of his books, which is my main thesis of this project. To most readers, they will become emotionally attached to the main character Jay Berry, his sister Daisy, and their grandpa.

Daisy can be recognized as the angel of the family. She is always caring and thinks of ways to make her family's lives better. Even with her deformed leg, which restrains her from many strenuous performances, she is never shy nor hesitant to act. This is why many readers become emotionally attached to Daisy. It is as if her leg is not a hindrance at all. When Daisy beats Jay Berry at running around the house, he thinks that the bad leg of Daisy isn’t even there. "…Sometimes I think that the deformed leg of Daisy is not there, since I've never seen her worry or talk about it...” Because of Daisy's actions to overcome her troubles, looking at Daisy actually gives Jay Berry the feeling of hope instead of sorrow.

Like most grandpas, Jay Berry's grandpa is key source of obtaining information. It was because of him that Jay Berry found out that he could catch monkeys to earn money, a chance he’s never gotten. Jay Berry's grandpa was the one who kept giving him ideas to catch the monkeys and never gave up on him. “…There never was an animal that couldn't be caught...” was the quote Jay Berry's grandpa would say every time Jay Berry failed to catch the monkeys, and the encouragement from his grandpa kept him going instead of giving up. Many children would really get attached to Jay Berry's grandpa because it would remind them of the times they needed help or advice and their grandparents would be there to help them out.

Jay Berry is definitely a character that you have to get emotionally