Flowers in the Attic

Book read over the summer: Flower's in the Attic by V.C Andrews. 

Summary:

Over the summer I read a book called Flowers in the Attic, basically it's about 4 kids-Catherine (Cathy), Christopher (Chris), Cory, and Carrie Dollanger and their parents. From Cathy's point of view she describes what happens the day after her father dies. Their mother takes them to the grandparent's house, telling them about the grand riches they will have once he dies. She then locks them in a room, saying they must stay there so the mother can go and convince her father to put her back in his will. The mother explains that her father took her out of the will in the first place because she married his half-brother than ran away. She then explains they must stay locked up in that single room, till either he dies or till he forgives her.

But soon after that, Cathy begins to get....restless, she begins to feel that she doesn't want all the riches her grandfather has, she just wants to be out of the room in order to be able to practice her dancing dream. She tells her mother this, but she gets the response of saying how they will be rich beyond their dreams and she can practice dancing then. Cathy then wants to leave the room because she wants to be outside, she wants the twins-who are slowly dying and not growing since they're been trapped in the room for 3 years now-to grow, she wants her brother to complete all his dreams. But it's still the same order. 

Soon, the twins become sick. Cathy convinces Christopher that they need to get out now, so Chris begins snooping around the house-using the key they made/stole from their mother when she wasn’t looking or paying attention. They get some money and make plans but something goes wrong and they’re forced to leave when they don’t have enough money. But, right before they do, Cory dies, leaving Carrie in a dead-state since the twins were really close with each other and wouldn’t ever do something without the other twin. But, Cathy and Chris force Carrie to go with them, insisting they need to leave or they die. They do, Cathy wraps up the story saying their survival is another story…leaving the read hanged.

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Archetype 

Shapeshifter:  I feel that Christopher-Cathy's oldest brother-is more like the shapeshifter in the story. Sometimes he's on Cathy's side-that they'll have to escape the house since the mother really doesn't care for them or has forgotten them. Though he doubts that since he loves his mother very much, he's still on Cathy's side for most of the time, since they get closer and he's beginning to trust her opinions more.  Then for the beginning/rest of the time of the story he's on the mother's side. He believes that the mother is right-she will win back the grandfather's love and she will get back into the will, then they'll be free and able to live a normal life again as a family.  He's on the mother's side than Cathy's side-not really sure who to pick since he really loves both of them.

Shadow: I think the Shadow of the story is really the mother, though some people would think it's the grandfather. The mother is really the reason the kids are stuck in the room, she's really the reason that they can't have a normal life, and she's the reason they're not growing or developing (In the Twins' case). Though it could be the grandfather-since he's the real reason that they're locked up in a room, but the mother is really the one keeping them in, it mentions in the book that her father gave her money-a lot of money-so she could have used that to help the children escape. Though she is their family, she could have had come up with some little place they could have lived, instead of being locked up in that single room.