Book Club Essay

When You Reach Me

by: Rebecca Stead

Of the many symbols in When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, the most important  symbol is the veil.Throughout, When You Reach Me the veil was mentioned. Veils, symbolize courage or confidence about life. Throughout When You Reach Me, veils are mentioned and shown in different times in the story. Miranda and her mom have lost and gained confidence about themselves and what they are doing. Therefore, veils are an important symbol in When You Reach Me.

Veils, symbolize courage and confidence a person has. If the veil is up then that person is confident about themselves.Veils also determines someones courage and confidence levels. For example, in When You Reach Me it states, “And when the veil lifts, we can see the world as it really is.” This shows when the veil is up that the world it shown clearly and you have courage, it also shows that if the veil is down it shows low confidence and shyness.Veils show that when you are lifting your invisible veil you can saw the world more clearly than you saw it before. The author explains how lifting your veil can define if you have confidence or not. Therefore, this shows that when you have your veil lifted it shows confidence about yourself. Another example, is when Miranda says, “To play in the winters circle, mom has to get herself in a certain frame of mind. She says it’s sort of like lifting one little corner of her veil, enough to see more then usual but not so much that she gets distracted by life, death and the beauty of it all.” This quote really shows the meaning of the veil and its levels. When the author says, “enough to see more then usual but not so much that she gets distracted by life…” this shows that when she has her veil up she can see life clearly and the way it is supposed to be. But, when her veil is down that she can’t see the world clearly. Overall, these quotes show how when your veil is lifted it shows confidence and courage about yourself and the world.

Veils symbolize courage and confidence levels when people don’t have any confidence or courage. For example, in When You Reach Me it states, “But sometimes our veils are pushed away for a few moments, like there is wind blowing in our faces.” This shows that veils also show how scary the real world it and that you don't have the courage to go out. Instead, have a veil in your face covering the truth. When the author says, “pushed away like theres wind blowing in our faces…” This shows that it is uncomfortable and that the real world is scary and you don’t have enough courage.  Another example, is in When You Reach Me it states, “Some people learn to lift their veils themselves. Then they don’t have to depend on wind anymore.” When the author says, “some people learn to lift their veil” I think this shows that it is hard to lift your veil. You must have the courage and confidence to do so. Therefore, Veils symbolize courage and confidence a person may have. In this case, Veils are a struggle and are very hard to lift. Overall, these quotes show how veils symbolize courage and confidence a person has and how veils can show low courage and confidence about the world and yourself.

In conclusion, in When You Reach Me By Rebecca Stead, the protagonist Miranda and her mom and many characters experience the veil in different and similar ways. The veil symbolizes the courage or confidence a person has. Throughout When You Reach Me the veil is lifted and sometimes not. If you have the veil lifted you can see the world as clearly as possible with courage and confidence about yourself. If the veil is not lifted and covers your face, you can not see the world as clearly as possible with any courage or confidence. Overall, there are many symbols in When You Reach Me but the most important it the veil.