Analyzing The Character In Ann Rinaldi's The Secret Of Sarah Revere

Barbara Cage once said, “A grandma is warm hugs and sweet memories. She remembers all of your accomplishments and forgets all of your mistakes.” In ‘The Secret of Sarah Revere’ by Ann Rinaldi, Grandma Revere is the complete opposite of the kind-hearted grandma that makes you cookies. She is strict and disrespectful to all her grandchildren. In the novel the narrator Sarah Revere will do anything to get away from her sister Debbie and their grandmother. Ever since Debbie was young she has always been Grandma’s favorite. Debbie has her ways of getting by in the Revere household. They involve manipulating Grandma to get exactly what she wants. It’s hard enough to control Debbie but Grandma can’t manage everybody in the house for long. Although

Debby and Grandma have many different traits but a few of their similar character traits are their boldness and mean-spirited attitudes. Debby and Grandma are both extremely bold because they say whatever comes to their mind no matter how rude and disrespectful it is. When Debby speaks of Lady Franklin, she never has anything nice to say, “They call her a whore, which she is.” (Rinaldi 190). She has never met Lady Franklin and not many people have the audacity to say such horrible things. Similar to Debby, Grandmother is bold because she has just meet her son’s future wife and you would think that she would be kind and happy to meet somebody that wants to marry her husband. Instead she is calling Rachel Walker, a girl she has never meet before, ugly. “You’re a plainer piece than some of the others

Debby knows what she has to do to survive in the Revere household, and her tactics of survival involve manipulating grandma to get her way. She Over the years, Debby has learned that for her to be able to live her life she has to flatter and complement grandma until she gets her way. “Part of why grandmother spoiled her so was because she flattered, cajoled, contrived, and lied to get her own way.” (Rinaldi 37). Debby is very kind to Grandma so she can receive what she wants, but Grandma us just the opposite. Grandma seems to be an ungrateful person in parts of the book, but she is grateful for Lady Frankland at the end of the book. After all of the hurtful things that she has said to Lady Franklin it must be hard for grandma to be so forgiving and thankful. “Thank you.” (Rinaldi 271). I don’t think that grandma has ever said thank you to anybody and after all these years grandma has the courage to thank her for everything she has done. However Debby is lacking in self confidence while Grandma is very controlling. Debbie talks about how she wishes she weren’t alive. She unsure of the way she looks because she is extremely self conscious of her scars even though she doesn’t she it very often. “How do you think I feel everytime I look in a mirror. Not a day in my life goes by that I don’t pay mind to them.” (Rinaldi 174). Grandma