Dear Mr. Winston is a book that is written by Ken Robert is a letter from a girl named Cora to a librarian named Mr. Winston. In this letter that Cora was forced to write by her parents, Cora SAYS that she is truly, genuinely sorry for bringing a snake into the library, but some things in the book tells us that she might not be. Cora says that she just wanted to borrow a book of snake pictures to see what type of snake she had in a box, but she couldn’t check the book out, and so she decided to bring the snake inside the library so she could look at the snake pictures and figure out what type of snake her snake is. But, the snake escaped from the box when Mr. Winston picked it up and dropped it. Now, Cora is writing a letter that she isn’t even sorry for.
To start off, Cora broke a rule of the library, which is bringing animals into the library. When Mr. Winston didn’t let her bring the green reference book out, he was just following the rules of the library. He didn’t do anything wrong. However, by bringing the snake into the library, Cora broke a rule, and could have caused serious problems. The only part Cora plays innocent is that she probably didn’t know that she could have caused Mr. Winston or others go to the hospital, seeing that the snake was kept inside a box and would not have escaped unless Mr. Winston dropped it. But, Cora was also wrong to not tell anyone or warn anyone that it was a snake. Keeping things quiet and discreet is not always the best option.
Cora is also putting the blame on others. For example, she makes sure that in the letter, she makes a good impression that Mr. Winston was the one that was faulty because he dropped the box. She does not admit that she was the one who brought it inside the library in the first place. This tells us that Cora is not sorry, instead, she thinks that Mr Winston should be sorry for himself. She also hints many times that her parents forced her to write the letter, which just adds on to how she isn’t sorry. If she was sorry, she would have decided to write the letter herself without anybody reminding her that she should. By putting the blame for the escaped snake on Mr. Winston, we can tell that she is not sorry for the escaped snake at all.
Lastly, she also mentions how she is more sorry for other things she lost than for bringing the snake into the library. She mentions in the letter that she is more sorry for having to lose two month’s of her allowance to pay for flowers to send to Mr. Winston, her not being able to watch her favorite T.V. show again until she apologizes, and not being able to keep the snake again after it is found. This means that she is more sorry for other things than Mr. Winston. She only cares about herself, and doesn’t pay attention to what happens to other people. She is a bit too self centered, or a bit too arrogant. She always puts herself and what she wants first, looking back to the people she hurt after she fulfills her own needs. Because of this, Cora is so eager to write a letter to say that she is (fakely) sorry, just to get her privileges, or at least her T.V. privilege back.
Dear Mr. Winston is a valuable story that teaches kids the importance of truthfulness and honesty. Cora is not very honest that she is sorry in her letter to Mr. Winston. Instead of focusing on apologizing to mr. Winston, she goes of course and ends up expressing how sorry she is for her money, her T.V., and her snake that she won’t get to keep. Cora does not express that she is sorry for letting the snake inside the library, but laments over the loss of other things instead. Readers learn that saying that they are truly, genuinely, sorry doesn't work, you actually have to show it with your actions and express it meaningfully with your words.
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