Onion John, a novel by Joseph Krumgold, is about Onion John: a European immigrant who lives in a hut made of stone and furnished with bathtubs. He befriends young Andy Rusch, the only person in Serenity who can understand his speech. As Andy comes to know Onion John (so named because he grows the best onions in town, and eats them like apples), he finds that the man believes some odd things. Life turns upside-down for Onion John when Andy's father decides to get the Rotary Club to build Onion John a new modern home. Almost immediately after moving in, John, unused to modern appliances, leaves newspaper on the stove. The ensuing fire destroys the house. Andy’s father is determined to rebuild the house, but John feels bad. He wants to fumigate the whole town. Andy wants to run away with Onion John, but he doesn't allow it. He eventually leaves the town of Serenity.
Family relationships are extremely essential in our daily life. Families are our most close social environment. Families provide emotional warmth, security, and a sense of belonging, crucial for personal development and well-being. They teach us many crucial things about how to survive and thrive in life. In the story, Andy and his father’s “father and son relationship” isn’t that good. They have different expectations in which Andy wants to take over his father’s fundamental remains while his father wants him to finish his dreams. Andy thought his father was pushing him too much, but his father had already tried; he already made some achievements. It wasn’t his fault. Andy’s father has tried his best and he is trying to develop a better son. If we don’t have a close family relationship, our lives may be miserable.
Personal growth is a crucial thing that we will all experience in our lives. Nobody is perfect in the world; even the most intelligent and richest are not. This makes everyone want to improve themselves; they want to be a better self. For example, a person is good at studying in school (his grades are good), but he doesn’t have good manners. He later realizes and starts to change. This is called being more mature. In the story, Andy has a lack of ambition at the start. After understanding his dad and John gradually in the story, Andy changed a lot. He started to face reality more and learn to express himself in a better way. He also finds the meaning of life and realizes love and responsibility. This connects to even his father pushes him a lot, he always loves his son, Andy. We need to be mature and grow up to do more meaningful things.
We should accept and understand other people most of the time (if they are truthful). It's important because connecting and building deep relationships with people requires an understanding of what they are feeling and are saying. Empathetic listening is the skill that's required to understand what someone's saying and then reply. In the story, all the characters have different values and choices for the future. Andy doesn’t want to work hard (it’s his choice) while Andy’s father likes challenging himself. But they didn’t respect others’ choices. Andy’s father is forcing Andy to finish his dream. Andy is forcing John to stay. People in town are forcing John to change. Everyone can feel pain and lose himself.We should understand other people because we might hurt them.
In conclusion, the novel Onion John is about a teenager named Andy, with an European immigrant John, who grows onions very well. He is very strange as he lives in a wood hut and believes in lots of odd things. The villagers forced him to live in a modern house, which was burnt by John. In the end, John left the town. From this story, I learned three themes. Firstly, families are the most important part of our life. Secondly, everyone will experience personal growth and start to be more mature. Lastly, we need to learn to accept and understand others.
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