Silver Wellies Grief Essay Flashcards
Introduction
In “Silver Wellies and a Hymn Sheet” by Anne Donovan, the theme of grief is explored when the narrator’s grandfather dies, and she is left to experience loss for the first time. “Silver Wellies” serves as an example of the several ways different people cope with the death of those close to them, and how this suffering can bring them closer together.
Plot Summary
Anne Donovan uses the point of view of a little girl to see the inside of a family processing death. At first, we explore how each individual family member begins their journey of healing. Then, we view how some characters begin to accept the grandfather’s death, whilst others deteriorate. At the end, we watch as the family supports one another and moves on together.
Little girl paragraph quotes
1: ‘Where is heaven?’
2: ‘And do the angels sing?’
3: ‘I thought of my pappy up in heaven with his silver wellies and his rainbow wings, singing’
4: ‘I made one of my pappy in his silver wellies with an angel.’
Little girl paragraph
The little girl, who narrates the story, is confused around the subject of death.
‘Where is heaven?’
This question shows just how young she is.
‘And do the angels sing?’
This is reiterated as she asks more questions and finds acceptance in things she enjoys as a child.
‘I thought of my pappy up in heaven with his silver wellies and his rainbow wings, singing.’
The importance of her naive image of heaven is emphasised as the little girl uses it as a coping mechanism.
As she grows up, she continues to remember her grandfather by making a Christmas card of him in heaven.
‘I made one of my pappy in his silver wellies with an angel.’
This quote shows than even though her grandfather has passed on and she is so young, she hasn’t forgotten him.
Mothers paragraph quotes
1: ‘She bent doon close and I smelled the lavender smell of her”
2: ‘Greetin’
3: ‘My granny came to stay with us’
