HOMEWORK!!!

Explain why Gregory and Ivy feel such a special connection?

Gregory and Ivy feel such a special connection becuase they both go through a very similar life-changing event. It started with Gregory losing his mother when she commited suicide, and then two days later when the love of Ivy's life, Tristan, was killed in a car accident late one night. Ivy is the only one that can even begin to understand what Gregory is going through, and Gregory is the only one who can begin to understand what Ivy is going through. When Ivy is trying to explain their relationship, she says "Gregory had been there for me, looking out for me, since the night of the accident...perpahs it was because it was his own loss, his mother's suicide, that made him so understanding" (p 39). There were many examples of when Ivy really felt like Gregory was there for her, understood just what she needed, and could see right to her soul and what it yearned for. A specific example is when she came home late one night, after she had a very hard day, and just wanted sleep. She went to go to bed and on the night stand next to her was a picture of her and Tristan that Tristan had given her, with twelve violet roses and "Beside these roses was a note writen from Gregory saying that he knew that these four weeks had been the hardest weeks of her life, but that he would be there for her through the end"(p 58). This was a day that Ivy felt like giving up, and like there was no hope. She couldn't stop crying this day, and when she came home and saw these roses and note, she fell to the floor in tears of gratitude. Gregory knew how Ivy was feeling, and because of his related experiences, he was able to feel empathy for Ivy. Ivy also said that while the rest of the world only saw the surface of her and her feelings, Gregory saw through them all. Ivy said that "While everyone else was encouraging me to remember the night of the accident and to talk about it-becuase they said it would help me heal-Gregory would let me take my time, let me find my own way of healing. There was no better explanations other than he was trying to help me heal, in a way that he wished the world would let him heal-on our own time" (p 124). Gregory and Ivy had both been through the same tramatic event and at the same time, so it was fate for them to connect in a way that they could not connect with anyone else.

Although he hasn't been told by the angel in charge of earthly missions, Tristan believes he already has his mission figured out. What does Tristan feel is his mission on earth as an angel, and why he is persuing it so quickly?

Tristan has died in a car accident a month ago, but after the accident he was sent back to the earth just moments later to complete a “mission”. Tristan has not been told yet what his duty and reason was for coming back to earth, but no matter what any other of the angels tell him, Tristan believes his mission is to save Ivy’s life, which he so earnest believes is in danger. The first time Tristan realizes that the car accident was really no accident at all, Tristan says “The pedal. The break. It shouldn’t have given out like that. What if it wasn’t an accident? What if it only looked like one? Those breaks were in perfect shape. I am positive somebody messed with them. You have to help me reach Ivy” (p 93). Tristan thinks he has figured out his mission, and he is frantically trying to communicate with Ivy, to help her stay away from danger. Later in the story, when Tristan still hasn’t been able to warn Ivy her life is in danger, he complains saying “I have to communicate with her again, we have to reach her! She has to know that the night of my death wasn’t an accident. Somebody wanted both of us dead”(p 109)! Tristan is sure that the only reason he came back to earth as an angel, was to save Ivy’s life. No matter what he has to do, he is convinced he is going to let her know, by working through someone else, that she needs to protect her life. Another time is the final time before Tristan first succesfully reaches Ivy, when he says “You have to help me, guide me. Tell me what I need to do to get to my love. I have to warn her, I have to tell Ivy that someone out there is wanting her life to be over”(p 155). Tristan is anxiously trying to save his love’s life, and is willing to give up anything in order to do so. He is persuising his mission so quickly, because he feels that there is no time to waste. Every second he wastes as an angel, is one second closer to Ivy becoming dead.