I read the book A Corner of the Universe by Ann M. Martin and discovered the main social issue in the book was disability. In the book, Hattie a pre teen meets her uncle named Adam, he has mental disabilities but they form a friendship anyway. Disability affects the characters, including Hattie and the rest of the family. It affects the plot, and the mood. And it affects the conflicts in many different ways, like the surprise ending and relationships within the book. A Corner of the Universe by Ann M. Martin was a vey good book filled with love, happiness, and grief. I highly recommend it.
In the book A Corner of the Universe, the issue of disability affects the characters in many ways. For example, there is a moment in the book when Hattie (the main character) is walking with her Uncle Adam, who has mental disabilities and they stumble upon some mean girls that Hattie knows. Uncle Adam is very friendly and warm to the girls but completely oblivious to the fact that Hattie dislikes them deeply. The girls, Nancy and Janet, call Adam a “freak show”, this causes Hattie to stand up for her uncle and tells the girls to shut up. Hattie most likely stood up for Adam because he was so vulnerable and sweet and couldn’t really defend himself because of his disability (page 94). This shows that the issue of disability can change how some one acts towards them. Another example of how disability has an effect on characters is the way Hattie sees the world now. Her uncle definitely changed her point of view on a lot of things like death, disability, love and more. Uncle Adam opened her eyes to life. For example, on the first page she explains how she thinks of everything in her life either “Before Adam” or “After Adam”, this shows how much he influenced her life. Clearly the issue of disability has a profound effect on the characters in this book.
The issue of disability also affects the plot of the book. For example, the plot of the book would be useless without the fact that Hattie’s uncle has mental disabilities. He affects the plot in many ways, including his love for Angel, one of the people who lives in the boarding house. He falls head over heels in love with her. Unfortunately, he sees her with another man and commits suicide. The plot of the book would be very different if Adam had not killed himself. Another example of how disability affects the plot is when Adam and Hattie go on a Ferris wheel and get stuck on the top, Adam kind of freaks out and it is a very traumatizing moment. This affects the plot because it makes Hattie realize that she has to be careful and responsible when she is with Adam (page 125). All of these examples prove that disability affects the plot.
The subject and social issue of disability affects the conflicts immensely. In fact, the main conflict of the book is that this girl, Hattie, has an uncle that has mental disabilities and she acquires him as a friend. Some of the specific conflicts include her family’s way of treating Adam, sort of like a baby. That leads to Hattie trying to “set him free” which ultimately, leads to Adam’s death. Another example of how the issue of disability affects the conflicts is that at the end, Adam finds his crush, Angel, with another man and hangs himself in Hattie’s garden shed. This shows how conflicts can become big in a matter of life changing situations. As you can see, disability affects the conflicts in this book, too.
As you can see, the main issue in the book was disability. From the characters to the plot to the conflicts it really shines as the number one social issue in the book. However, this doesn’t mean it was the only issue. Some of the other social issues in the book were, loneliness, love, and growing up. I really cherished reading this book and it was extremely deep and stuffed with different feelings. I can connect this with another book dealing with disability called Rules by Cynthia Lord. In that book, a girl named Catherine, who is about the same age as Hattie, has a brother with autism and a close friend who is paralyzed from the waist down. She is also pretty lonely and doesn’t exactly know how to handle disability or how it feels. Some of the lines in the book are very, very similar. Both of these books give the world a look at what dealing with disability is really like. It’s something remember for awhile.
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