It took me a long time to get into the book. The first few chapters had very few characters and too many details about their lives. It felt like an extremely long introduction and it was wearing my patience. I read the entire time I was at the airport. As I was reading on the plane I happened to be sitting by a professor that had just finished teaching a class in Denver and was on her way back home. She noticed that I was reading the Grapes of Wrath. She had told me that it was a banned book when she was in high school. She further explained that the banning of this book led high school students to WANT to read this book. That's why she read it. I told her my prediction was because of Sharon of Rose. She was young and pregnant. I figured the pregnancy had a huge role in what I was yet to read. Anyway, the professor's mention of the book being banned at least gave me the strength to find out more. I too was a high school student that wanted to see why the book could have been banned. I remember when the first Harry Potter book and a bunch of people upset. I believe that book was banned in some schools. That just wanted some students to read it more, and look how huge the Harry Potter books have become.
I still believe that my prediction about Rose of Sharon's character was why the book was banned. The last paragraph of the book totally grosses me out. In fact the last chapter gave me lots of visuals that really was quite disgusting. It was sad that her baby was born dead. Rose of Sharon throughout the book had to do without. When the family got all new clothes, she did not. She had to wear old dresses. Instead she got milk to help her nutrition and the baby's. Pa was freaked out. At one moment I thought they had cremated the baby, because Pa said he smelled smoke. I never imagined the smell of child birth until I got all the details. Well, and the breast feeding at the end was just a freaky ending. After so many details within this book, the ending left me confused. It was too abrupt and controversial for a historical fiction story.
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The first time I had to read this book I was your age and reading it for the same reasons (yes, this summer reading list has been around that long). I too was freaked out by the ending, but I think that has to do with age. As I got older and had to read the book in college, the ending meant something different and I wasn't as freaked out (but it was still gross). Now, after not reading it for a few years and becoming a mother myself, the ending is completely different and I am no longer grossed out by it. I feel so sorry for Rose of Sharon because I couldn't imagine the horror she experienced by giving birth to a dead baby. Women go through so many emotional and physical rollercoaster rides when pregnant and after giving birth. I think Rose of Sharon may have felt some guilt because she couldn't keep her baby alive, but she did have the opportunity to help keep someone alive. I really empathize with her at the end of the book. Her mysterious smile might be because she finally has done something good. Does this shed some light on the ending a little bit for you?
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