When I Lose My Hundred Penny Box Analysis
Michael's great-great aunt Dewbert is one hundred years old and she has a penny for every year that she has been alive. Aunt Dew keeps her pennies in an old wooden box that she calls her hundred penny box. When Aunt Dew moves from Atlanta to live with Michael's family, he is drawn to the hundred year old woman. Michael spends a lot of time with her counting the pennies from the box, and with the count of each penny aunt Dew tells him a story about that particular year that the penny was added into the box. Michael's mother wants to get rid of the battered old box that holds the pennies, but Michael understands the value and the importance of the box to aunt Dew. Her life is in that box, "When I lose my hundred penny box, I lose me" (Mathis
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It is a touching story of familial devotion and loyalty. Even though the story feels kind of incomplete, however, there's a message, but one that is not as forcefully implemented or fulfilled as could be. Perhaps the author needed to be more precise and should have included a more extensive exploring into Dew's life and her holding onto the box. That is why the story is a bit disappointing with the way it ends. In my opinion, Dew needed to die. Without her death, the reader is left wondering about the future of the household. Did they get rid of aunt Dew? Was Ruth successful in throwing out the old box? If that is the case, then the mother was made to be more evil than she needed to be. This is nothing more than a glimpse, a short story. The father's story as a boy in the creek could have been fleshed out. Despite the flat ending, fourth elementary students can relate to this inter-generational tale. It is a wonderful way to help children understand aging, amnesia, and physical fragility at the surface. And even though he is a child, Michael has a better grasp of his great-great aunt's need for pride and shows more love and respect to aunt Dew than his mother or father does. It's a good reminder to adults to respect the elderly and not to try changing them into a new person, since they have lived their entire lives based on a certain conception, principle, or even belief an old box, and not to fall
It is a touching story of familial devotion and loyalty. Even though the story feels kind of incomplete, however, there's a message, but one that is not as forcefully implemented or fulfilled as could be. Perhaps the author needed to be more precise and should have included a more extensive exploring into Dew's life and her holding onto the box. That is why the story is a bit disappointing with the way it ends. In my opinion, Dew needed to die. Without her death, the reader is left wondering about the future of the household. Did they get rid of aunt Dew? Was Ruth successful in throwing out the old box? If that is the case, then the mother was made to be more evil than she needed to be. This is nothing more than a glimpse, a short story. The father's story as a boy in the creek could have been fleshed out. Despite the flat ending, fourth elementary students can relate to this inter-generational tale. It is a wonderful way to help children understand aging, amnesia, and physical fragility at the surface. And even though he is a child, Michael has a better grasp of his great-great aunt's need for pride and shows more love and respect to aunt Dew than his mother or father does. It's a good reminder to adults to respect the elderly and not to try changing them into a new person, since they have lived their entire lives based on a certain conception, principle, or even belief an old box, and not to fall