The story “The Sand Castle”, written by Alma Luz Villanueva, talks about the environmental dangers of global warming through Masha’ perspective. Masha, who now is a grandmother, once lived in a time where she could go outside enjoying the warm sunshine. Masha is taking her grandchildren to the beach. As preparation, Masha has a flashback to her memory as a little girl going to the beach with her parents. Masha remembered on the beach she lay belly down, faced the sea and let the last of the waves roll over her, and made sand castles. However, with global warming, the sun is so dangerous and burns everything it touches. People now have to wear protective gear during the daytime, and most of the activities are done during the night. Now Masha and her grandchildren, wearing uncomfortable protective clothing, gloves, and goggles, arrive at the beach under the sun. Masha teaches her grandchildren how to build sand castles and kids get very interested.
Global warming causes the rise of the temperature in the environment, which poses a serious threat to life on Earth and disrupts the balance of nature. Global warming is caused by human activities, such as burning materials or the making of nuclear energy. One of the most dangerous factors is the destruction of the ozone layer, a gas that protects humans from ultraviolet rays (UV rays). Global warming changes Masha’s life and actions. People need to wear protective gear to prevent the skin being burned. Everything was built to screen the sun’s light. The cars and buses are solar powered, and people do most of their activities at night. Almost everything people use and see could release greenhouse gasses and produce harmful chemicals into the atmosphere and make the atmosphere contain more heat or less ozone layers. In order to stop the problem of global warming worsening, people can use eco-friendly items that are made naturally, such as electric cars, wind power, hydroelectricity, etc. People need to do this because Earth is the only planet that supports life. There is not another planet that could support human life, because other planets are incompatible, as they are too cold or hot. Global warming is a crucial problem that seriously affects the environment and ecosystem, and people should immediately stop it since we only have one Earth.
A legacy involves what a person has accomplished and what the impact he has made within the family that would last long even after he dies. A legacy could be one’s core values, skills, character, or assets to pass down through generations that will never die out, setting an example to others and to guide their futures. When young, Masha loved making sand castles on the beach. But Masha's grandchildren didn’t want to because not only was it too dangerous under the sun, but also they didn't know what and how. Masha then passes on her fun and love of making sand castles to her grandchildren, and the grandchildren started to like building sand candles. When people within a family share the same beliefs or skills, family legacy, the family relationships between different members and different generations are strongly developed little by little. The elders try to pass down what they think is good, fun, or best for the next generation, hoping the younger ones could feel the same feelings or happiness they had; that is, to be part of the family legacy and be enthusiastic about it. Unconsciously, the act of establishing shared values and skills build invisible family bonds between family members. At the same time, the unconditional love from elders to the younger ones has been revealed. A legacy with shared values or skills could create invisible strong family bonds and signify unconditional family love.
A flashback is related to the memory and could be triggered by seeing something that is similar in the past to a reminder of the previous events or experiences. Flashback is one of the literary devices. In writing, a flashback is something the author uses to provide background information about the character and develop the character and story along the way. While watching the grandchildren prepare beach stuff, Masha gets flashbacks of what happened when she was a kid. Masha remembers the sun as very fun and warm. She could build sand castles and swim in the ocean. Flashback is a very sophisticated literary tool. The flashback in the story describes how the world was like with the sun now and then to show and emphasize the dangers of global warming. The author uses a literary device of the flashback to convey the messages about the serious problem of global warming by comparing and contrasting the previous life and current life. The flashback is a useful tool in literary works since it provides readers information both in the past and nowadays to have the readers see the differences and the problems.
The scientific fiction “The Sand Castle” concerns the need for global warming to be stopped, showing what it would be like when people do not care about depleting ozone. Global warming causes a severe negative impact on human life on Earth. To live, people have to wear protective clothing walking under the sun. People couldn’t do activities during the daytime. People could only use solar power to power up their vehicles. The author uses literary devices of flashback to explain how it was like in the old days when sun rays were not so dangerous as well as let the readers compare how life would be with the problem of global warming, for the purpose of awakening humans’ awareness of protecting Earth and keeping the balance of the ecosystem.
Comments