Pain In Natalie Taylor's Signs Of Life

Natalie Taylor can be described in many words by the reader. Readers consider her to be brave, strong, caring, and courageous by the end of the novel. Why? Because Taylor overcame the worst life had to offer. When Natalie Taylor was five months pregnant with her first child, her husband died in an event that would change her life forever. Being a parent can be challenging enough, but being a single, widowed parent can be unbearable. “I’ll never see the world as I once saw it,” Taylor utters (Page 70). Taylor published this book four years after the death of her beloved husband. When the reader reaches the last page of this book, her purpose is revealed. Taylor did not want pity regarding his death. All Taylor wanted out of this book was to

The reader can feel Taylor’s pain on every page of the novel, exposing Taylor’s use of realism. The novel begins with Josh Taylor’s untimely death, and the novel ends with the author being happy as she finishes her first triathlon a year later. Although it is almost impossible to completely overcome the death of a family member, Taylor does her best to cope with her current life and what has happened to her spouse. In the novel, she realizes that bad things happen to good people. Although Taylor is deeply saddened to have to raise their son alone, she is overjoyed with the fact that she spent an amazing year and a half being his wife and that she has a phenomenal family to support her. “We both know that without the Family, we don’t stand a chance,” Taylor claims in Signs of Life (Page 51). Besides her family, her little boy, Kai Taylor, is her major motivator to continue through life and accept the past. Taylor states, “It is because of Kai. I don’t want to die solely because I cannot leave my son. The thought of having to be without my son is more immense and powerful than I ever imagined” (Page 161). Her connection to her son is so strong; she would give up anything in the world to be with her son. Because Signs of Life is a true story based on Taylor’s life, it is very personal and unique as the reader discovers as they read the

Taylor proves to the audience that she has a humorous side, even in the midst of a depressing time in her life. Besides humor, Taylor shows the reader that even in sad times she still finds ways that she can be happy. On the other hand, she can also demonstrate sadness in a time of pure joy, such as large holidays. She declares, “but always too soon, right after a fleeting moment of hope, the floor opens up and I sink to the bottom again” (Page 70). When Taylor says this, we can see that she is glum and heartbroken. The tone Taylor uses in the novel varies from page to page, which makes the book more enticing as the reader flips through the book, wondering what will happen next. On one page she is sad and glum, but on the next she is grateful for her beautiful baby boy, her friends, and her