Jacob Hosp Mrs.Wachter 8 Literacy May 18, 2017 Do you like a good mystery then check out the book Dead Letter, by Betsy Byars, a fantasy story. When Herculeah finds a note inside a coat, she instantly wants to find out what happened to the person who wrote it. But what she does not know is that everywhere she goes to find new clues she is being stalked by someone who would kill to keep the truth a complete mystery. The theme of the Dead Letter is that Taking risks can help you in the long run. The author supported this by using certain structures such as symbolism and flashback and flashforward to show important moments in the text. The author used symbolism to show how the the note was a very important item to help lead them in the way of the killer along with hope. On page 86 it stated, that the other half of the paper stated, “ Elm Street, Amanda Cole. I got it meat, I got it. The woman’s name, Amanda Cole. We are almost there to the murderer, Meat, to the murderer.” In this section the note symbolises hope and Amanda Cole, because when Herculeah stated we are almost there to the murderer that shows that she has hope or she believes that they are almost there and that they have a chance to find the murderer because of this note and how much it means. This note also symbolises Amanda Cole because this is the note that they are using to try to find her because this note is from her. Others may argue that this does not symbolise their lead clue and or hope and a symbol, …show more content…
The author used revealing actions and symbolism to support the overall theme of Taking risks can help you in the long run, because it most supported in the text as shown above. Her message shown to you is to use this in your life to take risks to help you in the long