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Student Name Professor Name Subject 25 September 2012

Silver Water by Amy Bloom A famous American writer Amy Bloom, with the depth and emotionality characteristic for all her works, in a short story Silver Water describes the psychology of the relations in the family struck by daughters mental illness. This painful circumstance invoked the challenges that could be too hard to cope with and the moral choices difficult to make. Silver Water is a pitiful and sad story told by a young girl, Violet, about her sister Rose, who was suffering from schizophrenia. Being a lovely and healthy young girl, Rose had her first nervous breakdown when she was fifteen and since then, despite being surrounded with love and care, she had been getting worse and worse. Finally, after ten years spent in different hospitals with good and bad doctors, she committed a suicide. Roses mental disorder became a great challenge for all members the family. Her mother, Galen, was the first person to mention that her daughter was going crazy. Even though Roses father, David, was a psychiatrist, he did not recognize the symptoms of his daughters disease. Ten years of treatment in different hospitals obviously ruined a normal lifestyle of the family, but the reader becomes amazed by the optimism and strength that both parents demonstrated fighting against Roses madness. David was looking for the best doctors and helped in a good clinic that they found for Rose; while Galen, as a musician, was playing a piano for patients and performed at fund-raisers. Thus, in the social context the author reveals the way family member react on the common tragedy (Source 2).

Yourlastname 2 They were full of hope, when after dozens of terrible therapists they found the one, who really helped Rose to get better. Developing the main idea of the story, Amy Bloom introduces the new information, creating a strong link between the familiar and the new information. Under the treatment of Dr. Thorne Rose took pills, lost weight and started singing in a church choir. Unfortunately, after the doctors sudden death things dramatically changed for worse, parents took Rose home and for a certain period of time they had to take care of her themselves. The peculiarity that immediately attracts the readers attention is love to each other that was dominating in this family. The author strengthens this argument with all circumstances mentioned. First of all, this is deep love of parents to both of their daughters. They cared about sick Rose, but at the same time tried to protect Violet. Mother felt the fear of teenage Violet, who was scared by her sisters illness: She also said, divining my worst fear, It wont happen to you, honey. Some people go crazy and some people never do. You never will (Source 1). Galen wanted to make Violet lead a normal life, despite of Roses disease; when Violet moved out, she asked her not to come too often, not to worry too much. David appeared to be a person of less strong character without the wish to stress Violet he often complained about Roses hopeless condition, he could not hide tears from the daughter, and she saw how difficult it was for him to manage the situation. Violet understood his weakness, and when Rose physically hurt her mother, she lied her father about that event, knowing his sensitiveness. It seems that Roses illness made all members of the family even closer; they all tried their best to help Rose feel better and supported each other in every situation. However, the strongest feeling of love and admiration one can recognize in Violets treatment of her ill sister. She was deeply suffering because of Roses craziness, remembering her sister as a beautiful, smart, cheerful young girl with amazing voice like mountain water in a

Yourlastname 3 silver pitcher; the clear blue beauty of it cools you and lifts you up beyond your heat, beyond your body (Source 1). Violet was deeply hurt by the fact that Rose became mad, she tried to help the parents, wanted to find a doctor who would cure Rose properly. She told the story about Rose singing loud near the opera to every new therapist. Roses voice was as amazing as silver water and it made people freeze with astonishment. Violet wanted the doctors to know her sister like this; she would always remember this Rose healthy and happy. The girl suffered from understanding how unfair it was that Rose, such a beautiful girl, her role-model, could in one moment have changed so much (Source 3). The author used emotional language, numerous epithets, metaphor and simile to depict the admiration of the girl by his sister. Pathos is used to persuade the audience appealing to their emotions (Source 4). One night, when Violet mentioned her sisters absence from the house, she found her in the woods with a bottle of pills. Rose took medicine to commit a suicide and Violet, knowing that, let her die, she did not prevent Rose from taking pills and decided not to call for help. Violet obviously and sincerely loved her sister, but at the same time, she realized that Rose was tortured by her madness, and being so sick she made their parents suffer even more (Source 3). Afterwards, she felt responsible for not saving her sister from death; moreover, Violet was afraid to be blamed by mother for letting her favorite die. Amy Bloom proves that it was obviously a moral choice of great difficulty for the girl, but she was strong enough to make it. I raised warrior queens tells her mother, who was proud of both of her daughters; she understood that no one could blame Violet for what she had chosen to do. To sum up, Silver Water is a story full of pain and sadness about the great difficulties that people may face in life. Mental disease of their daughter brought unspeakable anguish to this

Yourlastname 4 family. However, Amy Bloom argues that love, mutual support and understanding were the tools that helped this family to cope with all the challenges.

Yourlastname 5 Works Cited Bloom, Amy. Silver Water. Come to Me: Stories, HarperPerennial, 1994. Print. Morrell, Jessica. Between the Lines: Master the Subtle Elements of Fiction Writing, Cincinnati: F+W Media, 2011. Print. OKeefe, Claudia. Forever sisters: famous writers celebrate the power of sisterhood with short stories, essays, and memoirs, New York: Pocket Books, 1999. Print. Zhu, Yunxia. Written communication across cultures: a sociocognitive perspective on business discourse, Amsterdam; Philadelphia: J. Benjamins Pub., 2005. Print.