Story Review of The Sand Castle

The Sand Castle by Alma Luz Villanueva is a story that takes place in the future where the Earth is plagued by pollution. Human activities have destroyed the ozone layer, and as a result, the sun’s ultraviolet rays kill anything they touch. Most people emerge only at night from their protective shelters and those who don’t have to wear bulky clothing to protect them from the deadly radiation. Humanity would do anything to conserve the environment, shown when they outlawed all radioactive products and made solar powered vehicles. One day, a family decides to go and play on the beach. The children have never been outside before and don’t even know what a sand castle is. The children ask about their grandmother’s memories as a child. Up until then, she had forgotten the memories of 60 years ago. She showed them what nature could do back then. She took out her 8 precious seashells and used them to decorate the sand castle and told her grandchildren that one day, the ocean would make more of them and the environment would slowly recover.

Humans can do extraordinary things, both good and bad. Human greed often causes destruction of the environment and this results in us destroying our home planet. In the story, the Earth’s ozone layer had been completely destroyed, allowing deadly ultraviolet radiation to penetrate into the atmosphere and kill anything that it comes into contact with. People can only go outside during daytime with protective suits that shield them from the rays. All of this was mankind’s doing, as decades of pollution slowly destroyed the earth that we live on. As a result, the children didn’t even know what it was like to go out on the beach, and all the wild animals that their grandmother saw when she was a child were all gone. The destruction that was seen in the story was caused all by human activities. People were greedy and slowly destroyed the environment to serve their whims. As a result, the grandchildren didn’t even know what it was like to be outside, as it was considered unsafe to venture out. Human greed and other negative traits are powerful and dangerous.

Memory can be rejuvenated by new experiences similar to past ones. We may forget our past, but we can remember them through current experiences. The grandmother had nearly forgotten her memories from six decades ago because times were so different back when she was in her youth. People could actually roam outside freely without having to wear protective suis. Eagles and other majestic birds flew about the beach. Now, all of those things were gone because of excessive air pollution. However, when she went to the beach with her grandchildren, she felt like all of those memories were coming back to her, and she told them about her experiences on the beach when she was young. She remembered the seagulls and the beatiful shells on the beach. The memories that the grandmother had from when she was young were faint as they were the opposite of what she was experiencing now. When she went to the beach, all of the memories returned and she remembered what it felt like to be on the beach. Memories can be dormant, but it is always in our minds.

When we make a mistake, we must try as hard as possible to fix them. Confucius once said, if you make a mistake and do not correct it, it also counts as an err. Humanity had all but destroyed the ozone layer in the story. People could not go out during the day without any sort of protective clothing, and the land was barren of life. People tried to conserve the environment as much as they could as they had learned from their mistakes in the past. Producing ozone-depleting chemicals and nuclear testing was illegal worldwide. Cars were powered with renewable energy, and scientists employed many potential remedies, hoping it would improve the situation. So, when the grandmother went to the beach with her grandchildren, she took out her precious shells from decades before and told them that one day, the ocean would make them again. Humanity had inflicted devastating damage on the ozone layer and allowed deadly radiation to penetrate into the atmosphere. They tried everything to fix the situation in order to prevent it from getting worse, and their efforts were admirable. Mistakes that remain untouched can become harmful.

The Sand Castle by Alma Luz Villanueva occurs in a future where the ozone layer is completely destroyed and humanity cannot venture out during the daytime without protective clothing due to the deadly radiation from the sun. The people tried anything in their power to try and reverse the destruction they had brought on the planet. Ozone-depleting chemicals and nuclear tests were banned all over the world in an effort to allow the atmosphere to slowly regenerate. One day, an old grandmother brought her grandchildren to the beach and showed them how things were like, 60 years ago, when the atmosphere was untouched and when she was in her youth. Previously, there had been shells, seagulls, and eagles, but now, the beach and the ocean were barren. The grandmother told her grandchildren that one day, the ocean would make shells again, and one day, the earth would recover. This story teaches us three themes. First, we must control our greed, or we could end up causing harm to others, just as humanity destroyed the environment. Second, memory is a powerful force, shown when the grandmother remembered her experiences on the beach 60 years ago. Third and finally, we must fix our mistakes.