Literature Analysis Questions: Broken For You

1. Broken For You by Stephanie Kallos is about two women who are completely broken, but in different ways. Margaret Hughes is an older woman who just found out that she has brain cancer and only two to three years left to live. She was married but recently divorced her alcoholic husband Stephen. Margaret lives alone in a big house in Seattle with nothing but her own thoughts and the quiet buzzing of her porcelain dolls to keep her company. She talks to her dolls and they talk back to her. Margaret does not like going out in public and hates socializing with too many people. However, after her doctors appointment she randomly decides to put an ad out and rent out a bedroom and part of her house for a very cheap price. A women named Wanda Schultz ends up getting the room, but when she first came to look at the house she was a mess. She was clearly broken in a million pieces. She had absolutley nothing and had just moved out west to search for her "ex" boyfriend. As she talked about her past it was so clear how in love she was with her boyfriend Stephen. They had been living together in New York. They had amazing jobs, a good amount of money, and everything seemed perfect. One day Stephen told Wanda that he felt trapped. It wasnt working for him and he wanted to get out and travel and see the world. He intended that as a break up, but I guess Wanda misinterpreted. Her life was in New York, her passion and her theatrical dreams, but she loved Stephen and was willing to give up the world for him. She quit her job and sold everything in the apartment. She didn't realize until the damage was done that Stephen was breaking up with her. She was in shock. She just gave up her whole life for this guy and he wanted nothing to do with her! As Wanda is explaining her story to Margaret, who she just met, she is crying like crazy. Both these women are broken, and throughout the story you see that strengh is something you choose, and being fragile doesnt make you weak.

2. There is a purpose for the pain! Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes by getting hurt, you learn the true meaning of love. You learn something by living and by going through tough experiences.

3. The authour's tone is very relative to the main message in the book. She almost seems defeated or broken in her own way. Stephanie Kallos does an excellent job of developing the characters and showing their feelings through her writing. It almost seems like the characters dont care about trying anymore, they have given up.. which ties in perfectly with Kallos's effortless writing style. She is brutally honest and graffic in her descriptions.
"I might look like a nice, diffident old lady, but I'm not about to be treated like one." pg 6
"what a person invisions is what a person attracts." pg 33
"All of us lie to ourselves all the time, so why not tell positive lies- known as "affirmations"." pg 34

4. "The woman hears this language always, even in her sleep, because she is guilty, and because those who speak to her are never silent." -foreshadowing

"If you found out that you had only a short while to live, maybe a year or two, how would you spend your time?" - "I suppose i'd think about whatever it is that scares me thre most- relationshipwise, I mean- and then do it. Do the opposite of what I've always done." -Irony.. why do you have to wait for your life to be ending to do what you really want?

"The light does not beautify what is already beautiful"- tone

Symbol- broken glass in the book relates to the broken people.

Characterization- You can definatley see the characters grow, develope, and change throughout the book.