Revised Open Prompt #4 (Open Prompt 2)

Huge Impacts can be made in little or no time at all, as many important ones have. The amount of time a character has in a story doesn't reflect how much the character affects the story, in fact many stories such as Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. In this novel Sal, the main character, has embarked on a journey with a grandparents to learn more about her deceased mother. The characters develops immensely on this trip to retrace her mother's steps. Despite the fact that Sal's mother never appeared in the story alive, she still highly affected the action, development, and theme of the work.

The death of her mother takes a toll on Sal's whole family. Her father and her decide to move to Euclid, Ohio to restart their lives. This move, driven by the death of the mother, allows them to meet interesting characters that contribute to the novel's action. There’s for one Phoebe, a young girl who is in a similar predicament as Sal; her mom too is no longer with them. By aiding Phoebe find her own mother Sal attempts to understand her mother's circumstances as well. Sal's had mother decided to take a trip on her own to Idaho to visit family, on her way there she was killed in a bus accident. The major event however that was caused by Sal's mother, was the road trip to Idaho to visit her grave on her birthday. This trip was the major component in the story where everything is revealed. We learn about Phoebe and the other characters during said road trip.

In addition to contributing to action, Sal's mother also affected the development of the characters. The actions mentioned above which were caused by the mother also lead to major character development, especially seen in Sal. At the end of the book Sal finally comes to terms with the death of her mother and improves her relationship with her father and Mrs. Cadaver. During the trip with her grandparents Sal, finally finds out the whole story behind her mother's death and much confusion and anger is cured. This also mends her relationship with her father because of new found knowledge and understanding.

The character development is elicited by the theme of the novel: do not come to conclusions about someone until you fully understand their situation. Sal prejudged a lot of characters in the story like Mrs. Cadaver and her mother.. Sal also didn't realize how miserable her mother truly was when she left for Idaho. She realizes all of this during her road trip with her grandparents to see her mother's grave.

In Walk Two Moons, although Sal's mother posthumously appeared in the novel briefly she affected many aspects of the plot such as the action, character development, and them. Her mother’s impact was due to her importance to all the characters.