Baking Cakes in Kigali and The Adoration of Jenna Fox Essay -- Compara

Authors Gaile Parkin and Mary Pearson focus their novels, Baking Cakes in Kigali and The Adoration of Jenna Fox, on the significance of family. In both novels, love and family are key elements: in Baking Cakes in Kigali, the main character, Angel, loses both her daughter and her son, while those around Angel are stepping up and protecting their families; in The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Jenna’s family members show their love for Jenna by breaking the law to save her life. Both novels demonstrate that family is important to all people; family can support and protect a person or even give someone courage to move on after her family is gone. In Baking Cakes in Kigali, Angel loses her daughter, Vinas, and the loss of her daughter leaves an empty hole in her heart; however, it is this hole in Angel’s heart that allows Angel to make room for someone else in her life, but in order to include someone new in her life, Angel must first acknowledge the real reason behind her daughter’s death so that she may accept it and move on. Angel was lying to herself about her daughter’s death: [Her] daughter wanted to die. She took those pills to suicide herself. (Perkin 247) Although losing her only daughter is challenging for Angel, she finally feels relief when she comes to terms with reality and exposes the truth about Vinas’s death, and by finally admitting to the reality of her daughter’s death, Angel is able to have a clearer mind and progress in life and help Leocadie, who has no mother to be with her for her wedding. By embracing the truth about Vinas’s death, Angel finds the courage to say, â€Å"Leocadie, it is not true that you have no family, because I’m going to be your mother for this wedding† (148). Thinking of Vinas gives Angel enough... ...talian villa and wine† (189) to help her only daughter, Claire, and therefore, Jenna. Both Lily and Claire are admirable mothers, who would run to the ends of the earth for their daughters; these two mothers illustrate just how deeply a mother can love her daughter and how a mother does all in her power to protect her children. Gaile Perkin’s Baking Cakes in Kigali and Mary Pearson’s The Adoration of Jenna Fox demonstrate how family can protect, support, and encourage an individual. Family is a principle aspect of a person’s life, and a loving brother or mother or father can greatly impact a person’s life. A family can encourage someone to help others or even save another’s life. It is evident, therefore, that family is a crucial element for human life; the world would be miserable if there were no loving families to care for each other and support each other.