Introductions- In this Chapter Bart wants to go to Disneyland for his birthday. Chris tells him he could as long as they stop along the way to visit there grandparents in the mental hospital. Later that day Jory and Bart decided to climb the wall again to watch the movers. They were dazzled by how rich this person who moved in was. She had the best sofas and furniture they have ever seen. That night they hid behind a tree to see inside the mansion and see the old lady’s face. She took off her veil and she had scars all over her face.
Gone Hunting- In this chapter Bart is pretending to be a soldier. He was hunting imaginary beast when he came up to the big mansion. The old lady opened the door and invited him in. She knew his name before he told it to her too. She starts asking him questions about his family then he asked her why she liked him. She said she used to have two sons and now she has none. She wanted him to take there place and she will give him whatever his heart desires. When Bart left the butler came up to him and gave him a journal that was his great-grandfathers. He also told Bart that the old lady was his grandmother and she was married to his real father.
Sugar and Spice- In this Chapter Cathy wants to adopt a little girl named Cindy. Her mother is one of her ballet students and is about to die. Chris told her no and she became angry. She yelled and screamed about things that happened in the past. That she is just like her mother selfish and had to have her way. She cried and apologized. One afternoon Jory came home and could not find Bart, he looked and realized there was one place he could be. Next door. He snuck in and watched how Bart was on the lady’s lap. He heard Bart call her Grandmother. The next day Nicole died leaving her daughter Cindy to Cathy. Cindy is two years old. Bart screamed he hated her. He was just scared that Cindy would take his place in the family.
My Hearts Desires- In this chapter Bart goes next door and is confronted by John Amos the butler again. He tells Bart to read every day the book he gave him. He also tells Bart that nobody is to be trusted and women are devious and unworthy of your time. When he went to see his grandmother, she gave him a dog. A St. Bernard when Bart wanted a pony. Bart got mad but then thought that he could turn the dog into a puppy-pony. He named it apple. He then went home and looked at his mom in a skimpy top and told her,” Be warned, momma, the Lord will see when I do not, and he will punish.” Cathy was very frightened that her son was quoting verses that her grandmother used to say.
Changeling Child- In this chapter Bart came home from the House next door and started building the dog house he started a while ago for Jory’s dog Clover. He looked down to pet Clover but Clover was afraid of him. He became angry and decided to hunt instead. He was on the ground digging when he saw bones. He was poking it when Grandmother looked over the fence and asked him to feed and nurture Apple, she saw the bones with the fur next to it and thought that Jory had killed a kitten. Bart then realizes later that night that nobody could ever like him.
Tales of Evil- In this chapter Bart gets mad at Jory when he finds out that Jory might tell on him. Bart starts to swing punches at Jory but Jory does not fight back. Jory follows Bart up to the old mansion when Clover starts to follow. He tells Cover to go back and find his favorite cool place to wait for him. When he gets to the mansion he has a conversation with the lady. She tells him that the reason she covers her face is to punish herself for what she did to her children. She then asks Jory if he would ever forgive his parents for murder. A package arrived and it’s an oil painting that looks exactly like his mom, but it’s the grandmother when she was younger.
Lessons- In this Chapter Bart saw that if he goes to Disneyland for his birthday then he has to leave Apple in the care of someone else. He does not want to because he wants Apple to only love him. Clover has been missing for two weeks with no hope of him coming back. Bart was in the back yard crawling around when he hurt his knee. Tons of blood spilt out but Bart did not want people to know he cut his knee so he hid it. The next day Bart hid under a bush and stayed there. He felt around and felt something furry with barbed wire around its neck. It was Clover. He knew that everyone was going to blame him for killing Clover. He hid out there almost all night wishing he would die.
Wounds of War- In this chapter Bart is still in his hiding spot when Jory finds him and tries to take him out. He is feverish and sweating all over. They rush him to the hospital and try to give him penicillin but he then has an allergic reaction to it. Bart keeps screaming out for Apple. Jory goes home and sees Apple on the floor chained to a stick with his food and water just out of his reach. Jory fed him and gave him water. Back at the hospital Bart might have to undergo a surgery to amputate his leg. He miraculously gets better but had to stay in the hospital on his 10th birthday.
Homecoming- In this Chapter Bart comes home and likes how everyone is fussing over him. He then goes to see Apple in the barn. When he opens the doors it is very dark and the shutters have been closed. He thinks to himself that poor Apple had to die in the dark. He looked in Apples stale and saw him chasing a ball. Apple saw him but went on Chasing the ball. Bart got mad and yelled at him saying why did you not miss me, why did you not care I was about to die. You need to suffer as I suffered. So Bart threw the ball as hard as he could, threw the food and water away, then left the barn and locked the doors. When he asked John Amos who fed the dog he said it was Bart’s grandmother.
The Snake- In this chapter Bart sees that Cindy is playing in a blow up pool. He walks over and Cindy threw her bathing suit at him. He got mad so he went over to her walking like a snake and put his legs around her neck pushing her under the water. Emma saw Bart and threw him away from Cindy who was crying. She then told Bart that he was not so innocent because he killed Clover and was about to kill Cindy. Cathy came in and yelled at Bart. He tried to bit and hit her so she told him to go to the attic and stay there.
Gathering Darkness- In this Chapter Bart went to a psychiatrist who told the family that Bart thinks he is two people. Malcolm Foxworth and Bart. When he gets mad he pretends to be Malcolm but then remembers he is Bart. The next day in the living room, Bart picked up one of his mother’s favorite possessions, a porcelain ballerina, and dropped it on purpose. Then he smashed it between his feet. Jory took it and threw it away hoping nobody would find out that Bart dropped it. Later that night Cathy came into Jory’s room and asked him why Bart hated her.
Malcolm’s Rage- In this chapter Bart reads on about his grandfather’s diary. The more he reads the more he begins to act like Malcolm. Cathy and Jory have a dance that is coming up later that night. This would be the first time she and Jory danced on stage together. Chris told her that she can not dance on account of her knee. She might not be able to walk again if she falls on it one more time. He finally gives in and says this is the absolute last time she will dance on stage. Bart is in the back yard with Cindy. She is playing in the sandbox when Bart sees her hair. He takes his scissors and chops of all her hair. Then he says it now looks short, stubby, and ugly like mine.
The Last Dance- In this chapter Cathy and Jory are getting ready for there performance. When it starts Cathy looks out into the audience for Chris but she does not find him. She also did not tell Chris that she was dancing two parts. Just before Jory’s and Cathy’s duet, Jory saw Chris and Bart in the audience. Jory could tell that Cathy’s knee was hurting because of the look on her face. When she landed her jump, Jory saw that her ribbon was undone on one of her points. She did not step on it but someone else did. Cathy came crashing on the stage hitting her knee. At the hospital she was told that she can never dance again and that she had to be in a wheelchair for a while.
Another Grandmother- In this chapter Cathy decides instead of dancing she will write a book. Chris and Jory have a talk, then soon after they go out the front door and up towards the big mansion. When they arrive the butler lets them in and the grandmother sat in the chair waiting for them. Chris asked her questions but she did not answer them. Then Chris noticed her rings, he saw them before. It was his mother. She had been released from the hospital a year earlier. She told him that she only came to be a part of his family again. She wanted Bart to be a son to her.
Ever Since Eve- In this chapter Jory’s real grandmother came. Marisha. She insisted on staying somewhere close to town and she insisted on selling her own dance studio and moving to teach at Cathy’s since she could not dance anymore. Cathy has been getting far in her book and she spends all of her time on it. Bart keeps reading from the diary more and more. Now Malcolm is teaching Bart about revenge and how to make people pay for what they do to you. John Amos told Bart to bring him the chapters of his mother’s book.
Madame M- In this Chapter Marisha goes to the dance studio to start her classes. She sees Cathy’s desk and throws everything in the trash and puts her stuff on the desk in a messy order. She then tells Jory that the reason she is here is to see to it that Jory will dance in New York just like his Father Julian. Marisha keeps talking until she stumbles upon what she just told Jory that he did not know. Marisha still thinks that Cathy is married to Paul, but Paul died. Marisha goes to the house to get the story straight.
The Terrible Truth- In this chapter, Jory finds out what happened to his mom in the years earlier. When Marisha gets to the house she and Cathy yell at each other and then kick Jory out of the room. Of course he listens in by putting his ear on the door and hears what they say. Marisha finds out that Paul had died awhile ago and she was now living with Chris. Marisha is worried for her grandson and tells Cathy that if she does not give her son to Marisha so he can learn to dance in her studio, then she will turn Cathy into the Social workers. Cathy tells her she is not leaving her son ever and Marisha leaves mad.
Rage of the Righteous- In this chapter Cathy, Cindy, and Bart are in the kitchen. Bart tells Cathy all sorts of nasty things then throws a glass of milk at her head. He takes out his knife and threatens to kill both Cathy and Cindy. Bart told Cathy that the lady next door was giving him everything that he wants, so she went next door to talk to her. When she arrived she sat down by the fire and dried off. The old lady sat there listening to Cathy speak. She would not say one word. Cathy saw the string of pearls around her neck and knew it was the grandmother. Cathy got angry and started to attack Corrine. John Amos was behind Cathy and hit her over the head with a fire poker. Corrine got angry and yelled at John Amos because he might of killed her. John Amos then hit Corrine over the head and told Bart to take Cindy home and tell her if she said one word to anyone about this then he would cut off her tongue.
Where’s Momma?- In this chapter Marisha tells Jory that she will not take him away from his mother. Boys his age belong with their mother not their grandmother. Soon they find out that Cathy is missing. They go to Bart and he lies about where Cathy is. He told them that she locked him in his room all day and that Cindy wandered outside and Cathy had to go find her. That explained how Cindy’s hair was tangled. Jory could still not find Cathy so he vowed that he will find her as soon as he found Bart.
My Attic Souvenirs- In this chapter Cathy and Corrine find out that they are in the basement and being held captive. John Amos had told everyone that Corrine had to catch an early flight to Hawaii and would not be here. John Amos had all the maids start to pack everything up. He also tells Bart that it is his fault that Corrine and Cathy are about to die, that he is psychotic and nobody would believe him if he told someone. Cathy and Corrine lay on the floor with Cathy’s head on Corrine lap. Cathy is having flashbacks from her childhood not knowing where she is or who she is with.
The Search- In this chapter they still can not find Cathy so Jory and Chris go to the mansion to search for her. They demand to look through everything until they find her. When they open the door, John Amos tells Chris that his “wife”, Corrine, went to Hawaii and they are busy packing. They search the house but Cathy has not been found yet. Chris tells Jory that he will go to work tomorrow but drop him off down the road so Jory can follow Bart. Chris said at work he will try to find out if Corrine left on a flight and if John Amos is married to her.
Whispering Voices- In this chapter John Amos tells the maids that the reason they have to leave so soon is because Bart has threatened to kill Corrine and he is a threat to everyone. He told them that Bart killed Apple with a pitchfork and that he has been killing animals periodically. In the basement Corrine told Cathy that she married John only because she missed not having a husband. She also asked Cathy to please forgive her for all that she has done. Cathy just sat there not knowing where she was listening to her mom tell her that she was sorry for putting arsenic in there powdered donuts causing Cory to die. When Corrine was done talking Cathy’s flashbacks brought her to today and she realized she was sitting on Corrine’s lap. She got up and said it was not enough for Corrine to just kill Cory and Carrie that she has to kill Cathy and Chris too.
The Last Supper- In this chapter John Amos is in the basement telling Corrine and Cathy this is there last meal. He takes the tea pot then spits in it. He then gave them sandwiches that were dirty and moldy. John Amos tells Corrine that after all of the years that she has not been a good wife she will suffer for. Bart heard Corrine and Cathy in the basement but did nothing. He wondered why they felt sorry for him and not Jory. He climbed the stairs to the basement and went home thinking if he was making a right decision or not.
Judgment Day- In this chapter Bart feels that Corrine and Cathy should have been given a better meal so he went to the mansion and brought better food. He was sliding it under the kitty hole when the candle accidentally tipped over and caught fire to the hay. Just before it caught fire Cathy finally saw Corrine’s face as Corrine asked one more time for forgiveness from Cathy for what she has done. Cathy still refused. As the hay was burning John Amos told Bart he put gasoline everywhere. Cathy screamed for Bart to call the fire department and Chris.
Redemption- In this chapter Jory and Chris see the mansion on fire so they run over there to rescue Cathy and Corrine. Chris found them and dragged them out. John Amos hit Chris over the head with a shovel and he passed out. Jory took both his parents away from the fire so they would not be hurt. Corrine went back into the house to save Bart. He had an oil painting with him of Corrine. He said he did not want it to burn. Cathy came to and she also rushed in the house to save Bart. Bart let go of the painting and went ran to his mom. Jory called the fire department and then took Bart out of the house. Corrine tried to take Cathy out. Cathy was on the verge of fainting. They finally broke free of the house but Corrine’s black cloths were on fire. When Chris ran to her she and put out the fire it was to late, she was dead, but at least she died saving one of her children.
Jory- In this chapter Jory says that life is almost back to normal and that Bart will soon come back to the way he was. He finally got the pony he wanted for Christmas. They never mention the mansion, John Amos, or Corrine again. John Amos died in the fire. The Foxworth estate which was worth more than one can imagine was left to Bart, Jory, and Cindy when they reach the age of 25. One more time Bart pretended to be Malcolm, then realized he did and stopped. Bart wants to become and actor when he grows up. He plans to make more money than anyone in the world. Cathy finally finished her book called The Kiss.
Part 4
Theme- A subject or topic on which a person writes or speaks; a proposition for discussion or argument. The theme of this story was to forgive people and not get revenge. Cathy tried to get revenge on her mother and it almost killed her. John Amos tried to get revenge and it killed him. Chris forgave his mother and nothing happened to him.
Plot-In fiction, the story of a play, novel, romance, or poem, comprising a complication of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means.
Setting-To prescribe the unfolding of (a drama or narrative, for instance) in a specific place. In this story the setting was Fairfax, Main County, about 20 miles north of San Francisco. There house is usually foggy and cold. There are not many houses around them.
Point of View- The attitude or outlook of a narrator or character in a piece of literature, a movie, or another art form. In this story the point of view is omniscient. The narrator knows everything that is going on and what each character thinks.
Simile- A figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as. Pg. 244 it says, “How could I talk to Jory like I used to?” On Pg. 251 it says,” You fear your mother and father does not love you as much as they do Jory.”
Metaphor- A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison, as in “a sea of troubles” or “All the world's a stage”. On Pg.4 it says, “The fog was spooky but it was also romantic and mysterious.” On Pg. 12 it says,” your not swimming in a sea of deceit anymore or helplessly caught in an undertow.”
Conflict- Opposition between characters or forces in a work of drama or fiction, especially opposition that motivates or shapes the action of the plot. The Conflicts in this story were man vs. self between Bart and himself. He was fighting his identity throughout the whole story. Another conflict is man vs. man. Corrine and Cathy fight each other. Another conflict is man vs. nature. The fire was battling Corrine when she was trying to leave the mansion.
Climax- The point of greatest intensity or force in an ascending series or progression; a culmination. The climax of the story happens when Corrine comes out with her daughter from the fire and then shortly died.
Foreshadowing- To present an indication or a suggestion of beforehand; presage. In the story an example of foreshadowing happened when Bart said to Jory that he will be sorry and that he will pay.
Symbol- Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible. In this story Malcolm’s journal represented evil. The more he read the journal the more evil Bart became.
Part 5
In my opinion the novel, If there be thorns by V.C. Andrews had some good qualities and bad qualities. If you read the first 2 novels before this novel, the novel would be good, but if this is the first novel that you read of the series, it would be boring and stupid. I read the first two novels so this one was good. A lot happens in Cathy’s life that they refer back to from the first two novels. In order to understand this one I had to understand what happened in Cathy’s life. Most of the novel just explains the story that happens before the novel was made. There was not as much drama as there had been in the second novel, so the plot was kind of dry.
I think that it could have been better. The mood that the story gave you was eerie and sad. You want everything to go good for Cathy and Chris because so much has gone wrong. You just want to scream at them and tell them to get on with there life and forget what happened in the past but of course to make the story more interesting they don’t. The story got really confusing most of the time because you have to remember so much about how Cathy and Chris became what they are. In order to see why they feel the way they do, you have to know there history.
The story did have some good aspects to it. It’s nice how Cathy got to keep Cindy, Bart, and Jory. The part where Cathy had her last dance with her son was touching and sad because she could not dance anymore. She forgave her mother at the very end which I was glad to see because one major point in the story is that Cathy would not forgive her mother. It was nice the way Corrine died saving her daughter. If I had to die, I would at least want to save someone in the process. After all the mother did to Cathy in her life, after all the punishment she put herself through, the sacrifice she gave her daughter was her life. It’s sad she died but it shows that Corrine changed her selfish ways.
I did not like how Bart became evil. It’s sad that history had to repeat itself in the same way. Someone evil always had to torment Cathy. Telling her she was sinful and she was the devils spawn. Making her believe that she had to prove herself in her actions. Dancing gave her an excuse to get back at her mother, showing her mother what her daughter had become and what she is not. When she could not dance she wrote the book to get back at her mother. She wrote her childhood in the attic and how she had to suffer still in her later days. Once published her mother would read it and see how horrible she was. Bart’s mind was perturbed into thinking he was something he was not. His mind started to be more like Malcolm which punished Cathy.
Overall the story had good aspects and bad aspects. The good outweigh the bad by just a smidge. I thought the story would be better due to the first and second novels before this one. It ended up the opposite. The stories before this one were much better. There is not much the story could have gone by because already so much has happened to their family it would not seem real if to much more happened. The story kind of leaves you hanging because at the very end of the story it says that the journal of Malcolm was burned in the fire but Bart has a look alike that he reads in the corner of the room. He mouths the words of what it says but the freaky thing is all the pages are empty. He must have memorized what all the words said. Therefore actually believing what Malcolm said otherwise he would not be wasting his time on it. He might turn bad again in the fourth novel.
