Gathering Blue Essay Essay

Kira is a female child with a twisted leg who lives in a more primitive society where people who cannot work, die. She has been kept alive by her mother, and when her mother dies, Kira is brought before the Council of Guardians. Kiras life is spared when she proves she can weave actually well, and she is assigned to the task of fixing up the robe worn by the singer whose only job is to sing the story of hu valet de chambre civilization erst a year. She meets Thomas, the boy whose duty is to carve the Singers staff. When finding out she needs to dye her own thread, Kira begins making a trip to the sea chantey of Annabella, an old woman who teaches Kira dyeing. Annabella shows her the plants needed to make every color, except for sour.Kira slowly learns that her life is less than idyllic. She hears crying in her building, and she and Thomas discover another strip lady friend whose ability is to sing and will eventually replace the current Singer. The orphan girl is scolded and pu nished if she does not sing Kira befri cans her but realizes she, Thomas, and the orphan girl do not have as much freedom as thought. At the Ceremony, she sees the Singer (whose robe she is fixing). She realizes that his feet are chained, and he is essentially a pris mavenr. The implication is that she and the others with gifts are also prisoners. Kira is also friends with a boy named Matt. He tells Kira of a settlement he once came across while lost in the woods. This village had blue. When the day that the Singer sings his song comes, Matt is nowhere to be found. He eventually returns with a blind man from the village in a blue shirt. The man, it turns out, is the father whom Kira thought was dead Christopher.He now lives in a community made up of wound and disabled people who help one another. Christopher has enemies on the council and is forced to return. Kira decides to stay in the village to continue to mend the singers robe and help improve the society she lives in. Eventu ally, close to the end of the book Matt tells Kira about a boy with blue eyes from the community her dad is from. He says he has blue eyes and is not injured in any way. He thinks Kira should get married with him, but Kira declines. That boy is later revealed to be Jonas from The Giver,a book also by Lowry.CharactersKira a vernal girl with a twisted leg and gifted in weaving She is the protagonist of the novelVandara an evil enemy of Kiras she requests that Kira be sent to the knit stitch to dieAnnabella an elderly woman who teaches Kira about dyesThomas Kiras friend, a young man gifted in wood carvingsJo a toddler girl gifted in singingMatt a young boy who helps Kira, Thomas, and (later) ChristopherJamison an older man, Kiras sponsor and mentor from the Council of Guardians later found to be the man who attempted to kill Christopher.Christopher Kiras fatherKatrina Kiras MotherBranch Matts dog