Tiger Rising By: Madelyn Von Wald

Summary . . . Rob’s mom died from cancer, Her name was Caroline. He went into the woods and had found a tiger trapped in a cage. Rob’s legs were itchy and full of hives because he tapped all his feelings in a suitcase that never opened. He went into the woods and had found a tiger. Rob meets a bold girl named Sistine. Beauchamp hired Rob to feed the tiger and gave him the keys to the cage. Rob and Sistine let the tiger go. Rob’s dad shot and killed the tiger. Rob finally opened the suitcase and let his sadness rise up.

Symbolism . . . One piece of symbolism that I found was the colors of the tiger. I thought that they symbolized strength, boldness, and happiness because they were bright colors like a golden glow of yellow and a bright vibrant orange. Another piece of symbolism that I found was Willie Mays bird. I thought it symbolized Rob’s emotions because at first the bird was trapped and unable to get, and Rob’s emotions were unable to get out of the suitcase. And in the end Willie May set the bird free and it was happy, and in the end of the book Rob opened the suitcase and let his emotions run wild, and the end he felt happiness.

Theme . . . I think the theme of this novel is to let your feelings run free. I think this because when Rob held his feelings in the suitcase his legs had hives and never itched, showing no sign of healing. Every time Rob let a little bit of his feelings out his legs began to itch. At the end when the tiger went down rob let all his feelings out and ended up feeling something that he did not feel often, happiness.

Character Analysis. . . Rob is lonely, shy, and shows no emotion. I think this because Rob never cries doesn’t have any friends and doesn’t interact with other people in a good way, and keeps his suitcase closed. He has changed over the book by going from not caring to full of life. Some examples are when Rob went to not crying after his mother’s funeral to opening the suitcase and crying when his father killed the tiger, and feeling anger at his father for doing it, and feeling love for Sistine.

The End!!!