Plot
Willow lives a very happy life with her adoptive parents, and became very intelligent and quick-witted. When they die in a tragic car crash, she is left with no connections, friends, or close relatives. Willow becomes depressed once they are gone, but is very thankful for the Nguyen family, who hosts her, even though they are not wealthy, and live in a garage. Because of her sadness and grief, Willow no longer uses her intelligence to generate brilliant ideas, and she is not as happy as before. When Willow moves into Dell Duke's apartment, she senses sadness around the apartment complex, and she decides to clean up the courtyard and make it a garden. Sloan, the author, uses the garden as a way to bring back Willow's great ideas, and the garden sets a bright future in place for Willow, like she had with her adoptive parents. "Right now I'm the sunflower. Temporarily, but attaching myself to the ground underneath me. The garden is challenging me, as always, to see my own situation." (Sloan 314) |