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Whirligig
When Brent accepts Mrs. Zamora's request to place whirligigs around the country in memory of Lea, he is motivated by the desire to escape. Strange as it was, it would get him away from Chicago,...
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Whirligig
The author has chosen to make the person whom Brent killed as close to perfect as a teenager can be. This choice provides a reason for Brent to take up the challenge of spreading goodness through...
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Whirligig
Written by American author Paul Fleischmann and published in 1998, Whirligig is a young adult novel about seventeen-year-old Brent Bishop. Following his accidental killing of eighteen-year-old Lea...
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Whirligig
Tony is a ten-year-old Korean boy who finds the whirligig that Brent left on a tree in Bellevue, Washington. The whirligig depicts Lea, the girl that he killed in a drunk-driving incident, as an...
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Whirligig
In Paul Fleischman's Whirligig, the character of Chaz plays a key part in the events that change Brent's life forever. Here are some things to consider when you are analyzing Chaz's personality....
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Whirligig
In Paul Fleishman's novel Whirligig, seventeen-year-old Brent Bishop travels across the country to atone for accidentally killing a teenage girl, Lea, while driving home drunk one night. Lea’s...
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Whirligig
First of all, Brent is stressed out when he shows up at the party because his friend Jonathan forgot to tell him about the dress code. The theme of the party is chess, and everyone's supposed to...
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Whirligig
The second chapter of Whirligig takes place in Weeksboro, Maine. Alexandra and Steph are eighth graders. Alexandra’s main conflict, so to speak, is that she thinks her friend needs some personal...
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Whirligig
Mrs. Zamora was actually the only one who consented to meet with Brent; her husband, still reeling from Lea's death and still upset about Brent's part in it, had refused to meet with the teenager....
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Whirligig
Paul Fleischmann's Whirligig is a story which tells of actions and consequences. Brent Bishop, the protagonist of the story, makes a horrible decision to kill himself (after being humiliated at a...
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Whirligig
Brent Bishop appears to us as an aimless teenager in the first chapter of the book. He just goes along with what life deals to him, even though he often doesn’t agree with it. Part of his...
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Whirligig
Brent begins to forgive himself for Lea's death because he realizes, first, that it's possible for someone else to truly forgive him; second, that he can still be a good person even though he did...
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Whirligig
In Chapter 2, we meet eighth graders Alexandra and Steph. They’re long-time friends, even though they have very different personalities. Alexandra is a more take-charge, outgoing person. She...
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Whirligig
The chapters of Whirligig alternate between the events and actions in Brent Bishop’s life and those of the people who encounter the four whirligigs he has installed. In “Weeksboro, Maine,” we...
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Whirligig
In chapter 5 of Whirligig, Brent's on his way to San Diego after having had a pretty unpleasant time of it in San Francisco. The experience hasn't been a dead loss, however, as he's bought himself...
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Whirligig
A whirligig is something that has one or more pieces which spin around in the wind. In this story, the main character builds whirligigs to repay a mother whose child has died in a car...
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Whirligig
Flaco appears in the chapter titled “Miami, Florida.” We don’t know his real name. People call him Flaco, which means “skinny” in Spanish. He supports his wife Constancia and his son...
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Whirligig
We learn most of this information in the first chapter, “Party Time.” Brent and his parents live in the Chicago area now. They had moved here from Atlanta, because Brent’s father was promoted...
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Whirligig
In Chapter Eight, Jenny takes her grandmother for a drive. Although Jenny is anxious about driving a manual car, her grandmother seems to be oblivious to Jenny's discomfort. Before long, Jenny...
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Whirligig
A simile is a literary form that uses the words “like” or “as” to compare one thing to another. Writers use them to add depth to the narrative and to engage the reader in thinking about the...
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Whirligig
The book flashes forwards in a reverse chronology to stories within the story about how the whirligigs effects those who see them. Although i do not have the book in front of me, I'm sure that...
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Whirligig
Throughout his journey, Brent meets a variety of people who he connects with. When Brent meets Emil, Brent imagines him as some sort of smarter, better version of himself, since they look similar...
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Whirligig
What Flaco wants more than anything is peace. He wants to be like the shearwater, a bird whom he imagines "live(s) alone, far away from land...no other birds around...very peaceful". Flaco's whole...
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Whirligig
Brent had been driving drunk when he caused the car accident that killed Lea Zamora. As a way to atone for his crime, Brent is asked by Mrs. Zamora to build four versions of Lea’s favorite wooden...
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Whirligig
We don’t know the real name of the main character in this chapter. He’s originally from Puerto Rico, and people call him Flaco because he is skinny. He feels the frustrations and stresses of...
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Whirligig
Brent's parents love him, but they are very caught up in their own materialistic wants and do not really see who Brent is. While the family eats dinner together, they do it in front of the tv and...
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Whirligig
In Chapter 9, I actually found seven references comparing whirligigs to other objects and people. I've listed them below in the order in which they appear in the chapter. 1. The final whirligig...
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Whirligig
If you are referring to the female artist Brent met in Weeksboro, Maine, the answer is that the author never reveals the name of the woman. Both Brent and the artist share an intimate...
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Whirligig
For his birthday, Tony asks "for a new baseball mitt, a remote-control car, a Nintendo, and a gift certificate to Sam's Sports Cards". He receives "...two shirts, a microscope, a new music...
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Whirligig
In the chapter "Apprentices," Brent has arrived in Florida and begins making his whirligig on the beach, when a group of children find their way onto his section of the beach. The children are...
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Whirligig
The preacher's words disturb Brent because they reference his current situation. Like Cain in the Bible, Brent is essentially living in exile. In complying with Mrs. Zamora's wishes, Brent...
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Whirligig
In the book, Jenny is a teenager who discovers one of Brent's whirligigs in San Diego. According to the story, she lives with her parents and ailing grandmother. One day, Jenny's grandmother asks...
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Whirligig
Brent's apprentices in Chapter 7 are a group of young children who happen to come around as he is constructing his whirligig on the beach near the small town of Beale Beach, Florida. At first...
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Whirligig
When you re-read a chapter with a specific focus in mind – like searching for a symbol – you may surprise yourself by what you discover the second or third time around. I found three...
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Whirligig
There are nine chapters in the novel Whirligig. Chapter Eight is titled San Diego, California. As the chapter begins, Jenny is portrayed as a typical fifteen year old teenager. It is her task to...
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Whirligig
Maine is Brent's last stop before he heads home. After planting his last whirligig on the artist's property, he feels that he is finally ready to meet his family again and to face Lea's mother. He...
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Whirligig
In the chapter, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Brent meets Emil, a German guest at the hostel in San Diego. Emil offers to show Brent around San Diego, and Brent accepts his offer. They head for the...
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Whirligig
Since the accident happens just after the end of the first chapter, “Party Time,” we’re talking about the action in the entire rest of the book. Brent causes the car accident that kills Lea...
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Whirligig
In this chapter, we follow Tony, a fifth-grader with Korean ancestry who lives with an adoptive family. Because of his Asian heritage, his mother insists that he take Suzuki violin lessons. Tony...
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Whirligig
Brent fortunately gains maturity throughout the course of Whirligig. He is, after all, only a junior in high school. And his penance for the accident causes him to grow up and to develop his own...
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Whirligig
Three key words to consider for the whole story are whirligig, penance, and atonement. A whirligig is a wooden toy that has arms that whirl or move whenever the wind blows. Brent has to make four...
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Whirligig
The construction of this novel is especially interesting because the climax, which usually comes closer to the end of the book, actually occurs about a third of the way through, in Chapter 3, when...
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Whirligig
In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, in Act V, scene 1, Feste says, "...-and thus the whirligig of time of time brings in his revenge." to which Malvolio replies, "I'll be revenged on the whole pack of...
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Whirligig
In Chapter Two, Stephanie is incredulous when Alexandra espouses the benefits of the whirligig to her. According to Alexandra, the whirligig is a symbol of unseen forces that can be harnessed to...
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Whirligig
At the beginning of the book, Brent is a selfish, listless, and angry teenager. Once he is traveling on his own and has an assignment to do – to build four whirligigs in Lea’s honor, in the...
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Whirligig
In the beginning of the book, Brent is just like any normal teenager who struggles to find his place among his high school peers. He is perhaps a little self-conscious, but he knows that he has to...
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Whirligig
This chapter is called “Apprentices.” Brent is in Tampa, on Florida’s Gulf coast. On a beach, he finds “a boarded-up ice cream shop” that is closed for the season. Here he makes a...
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Whirligig
In Chapter 5, titled "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," Brent realizes that he hasn't packed any long-sleeved shirts, nor has he remembered to pack shampoo. As a result, he's too cold, and his hair is...
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Whirligig
Chapter three is called “The Afterlife.” Here we learn that Brent wasn’t sentenced to jail time or to a stint in a detention center, as a result of causing the car accident that killed Lea...
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Whirligig
Brent is an only child. His family is materially well-off, and his life is comfortable, although his parents seem to be emotionally distant. Brent and his family have been in Chicago for only a few...