Young Adult Literature
Assignment optional book 2
Title: Dance on my grave
Author: Aidan Chambers
Short summary:
Henry Spurling Robinson, better known as Hal, meets Barry Gorman during a tour on a sailing boat. They become friends and they turn out to be real soul mates. Their friendship grows into a homosexual relationship. They have a lot of fun together, meet each other’s families and experience many adventures. They are a great couple and promise each other things for the future. One of the things Barry makes Hal promise is to dance own each other’s grave after one of them dies. Hal thinks this promise is ridiculous but he is so in love that he agrees. After a while Barry gets bored in their relationship and he has an affair with Kari, a English-learning Norwegian girl who is friends with both boys. This affair causes many arguments between Hal and Barry. After one of their fights Barry leaves in a hurry and very angry on his moped. He hits a tree and dies. Hal feels guilty and falls into a depression. During this depression he remembers his promise to dance on Barry’s grave. Hal is caught in the act and must appear before juvenile court. There is also a social worker present, who writes a report about the case and has to try to figure out why Hal acted that way. She advises Hal to keep a diary in which is revealed step by step what exactly happened. Hal is relieved and starts to feel better about himself.
What is the general conflict or problem in this story?
There are a quite a few conflicts in this book, but I will deal with the most important one. Hal and Barry both have a conflict with themselves and society. They both find out that they have homosexual feelings and don’t know how to deal with the fact of being gay. Another very important conflict is whether Hal should dance on Barry’s grave or not. He knows that it wrong and not accepted, but he made a promise to Barry which is also very important to him.
How does it get resolved?
After Barry’s death Hal realizes how
Title: Dance on my grave
Author: Aidan Chambers
Short summary:
Henry Spurling Robinson, better known as Hal, meets Barry Gorman during a tour on a sailing boat. They become friends and they turn out to be real soul mates. Their friendship grows into a homosexual relationship. They have a lot of fun together, meet each other’s families and experience many adventures. They are a great couple and promise each other things for the future. One of the things Barry makes Hal promise is to dance own each other’s grave after one of them dies. Hal thinks this promise is ridiculous but he is so in love that he agrees. After a while Barry gets bored in their relationship and he has an affair with Kari, a English-learning Norwegian girl who is friends with both boys. This affair causes many arguments between Hal and Barry. After one of their fights Barry leaves in a hurry and very angry on his moped. He hits a tree and dies. Hal feels guilty and falls into a depression. During this depression he remembers his promise to dance on Barry’s grave. Hal is caught in the act and must appear before juvenile court. There is also a social worker present, who writes a report about the case and has to try to figure out why Hal acted that way. She advises Hal to keep a diary in which is revealed step by step what exactly happened. Hal is relieved and starts to feel better about himself.
What is the general conflict or problem in this story?
There are a quite a few conflicts in this book, but I will deal with the most important one. Hal and Barry both have a conflict with themselves and society. They both find out that they have homosexual feelings and don’t know how to deal with the fact of being gay. Another very important conflict is whether Hal should dance on Barry’s grave or not. He knows that it wrong and not accepted, but he made a promise to Barry which is also very important to him.
How does it get resolved?
After Barry’s death Hal realizes how