A Spell of Kona Weather

A Spell of Kona Weather is a story from the book Coming of Age in America. The story is told by Annie, a girl who is living with her grandma and sister, Lulu. They live with their grandma because when their father died, their mom went insane and left them. Lulu has just gotten out of the hospital, as she drove off a cliff after hearing news that her lover, Jimmy, had died in Vietnam. Lulu has been acting strange ever since then, swimming alone and far, stealing things from her grandmother. One day, Annie and her grandmother are getting in a fight because Lulu had told Annie that she got a letter from their mom asking her to come visit her in Oregon. The grandmother says that this is just one of Lulu's made up stories, as their mom was in a mental institution in California. She said that a few years ago her brain "got zapped", and ever since then she hasn't been doing much writing. Lulu overhears the conversation and sprints out of the house towards the beach, and once arriving, starts swimming. Annie hates swimming in the ocean more than anything, but when she saw Lulu swimming away from her, she had to follow her out and catch her. She catches her and they go back to sit on the beach. Later that night, the grandmother decides that it is best for Lulu to go away for a while, like their mom. The theme of this story was that the post effects of a death can drive you insane, like it did for both the mother and the daughter. I liked this story because I thought it was interesting to hear about all the stories that Lulu made up, and then to learn about all the secrets hidden from the two sisters. I think that this would be a good story to analyze because of the theme.