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13 And A Half Analysis

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Life is hard, especially when you're older. When you grow up, everyone at one point must learn a hard truth and work to cope with it. Ashley in the story 13 and a Half learns hard truths about herself and her bird Sweet Pea when he dies. The writer of 13 and a Half uses characterization to support the theme, ‘Growing up means learning hard truths.’ The techniques they use are description, dialogue, and revealing actions. In the story 13 and a Half, the technique description is used in the story to support the theme. One example is when Ashley finds her bird dead, the author uses the description at this moment to help carry out the theme of this story. In the story, it states, “I got there as she began screaming, and saw a dead bird, lying on its side in the bottom of the cage” (Page 2, Rachel Vail) This evidence supports the theme, because knowing her bird is dead is a hard truth and is …show more content…

“ “...but then the darn bird died a few weeks after we got him… so I just went back to the pet store and got a new one.” “Sweet Pea was sort of a series of birds.” ” (Page 4, Rachel Vail) This shows how the mom comes clean, and Ashley learns the truth about Sweet Pea. This supports the theme because Ashley learned the hard truth that her many birds had all died, and now that she is older she has to learn about it. Another piece of evidence is when Ashley admits that she wasn’t the best bird owner. “ “I’m sorry if I wasn’t a good enough bird-owner,” ” (Page 6, Rachel Vail) This evidence shows Ashley admitting that she may have been not a good owner, and this is a hard truth that she had to admit to herself. She learned it now that she is older, and finally is accepting it. Using dialogue, the author of this story can clearly support the

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