City of Orphans: Author's Craft

Life is hard without having some power of your own and it is even harder if you are a newsboy on the street in New York 1893. You don’t get to do what you want, everything needs to be in secret. You have to be careful at all time, and everything is depending on the destiny. It is like a shell that you are trapped in, no days to pop your head out of it. That’s what happen in the CITY OF ORPHANS, by AVI. Life is super tough for Maks and Willa. On one hand, there’s an ill-sister and on the other hand is a jailed-sister that has to be rescued. Maks is definitely in a huge trouble, he needs money, that’s the reason why he tries to keep every pennies that he made from selling his newspapers. However, the Plug Ugly Gang doesn’t let him do that, if they find him, they’ll beat them up and take all of his money. NO, he could not let that happen, he gets to do something, he needs freedom and power. AVI uses the stick as a symbolism of freedom and power.

In the beginning of the book, when Willa extricates Maks from the Gangs with her stick, the author used descriptive language,“looking hard and nubby” to illustrates the appearance of the stick, its fierceness which is a perfect feature for power and a protection. In addition, the author even addresses Maks’s inner thinking “ he could not asking himself if she-and that stick could help him one more time.”,to convey that he doesn’t want to leave her, he is fearful, he doesn’t want to lose his chance and his opportunities. He needs some protection.

In the middle of the book, whenever and wherever Willa goes, she will always bring her stick with her,“ She stands with her stick in her hand, ready to go.”, from this we can infer that the stick is like her life-long friend, that she just feels secure with it. Amazingly, nothing happens to her. This can be interpreted that the stick has some power to her, no one could do anything harm on her. Until at the end of the book, she just realizes in the middle of the street that she forgot her stick with her. However, it is too late to get back home to get it. At this point of this story, it builds suspense to the readers, readers seem to know more than the character in the book. Readers want to shout their voice out to warn Willa to go back and get her stick because they could predict that something fearful would happen. It builds up the mood of nervousness, scared, and fear. Ultimately, the readers prediction comes true. The Plug Uglies Gang finds her and takes her away, she could not do anything. Without the stick, Willa is like the Fairy God Mother losing her magical wand, losing all the power that could protect her from something horrifying.

In the CITY OF ORPHANS, the stick symbolizes the protection, the security, that could scare the villains away, thing that everyone's wants especially in a hard time. People desire to have power, power of their own freedom so that life could get better.

By Khantey