My Proud Piece!

      Back in Term 1 I did a novel study on The Watcher. At first I struggled with getting full marks on my reading responses but after awhile I was able to meet all the requirements and achieved 100%! That's why I chose my response on The Watcher as my proud piece because I'm very proud that I improved so much on my reading responses. Furthermore I really enjoyed reading The Watcher, it was truly a splendid read!

The Watcher By: Margaret Buffie

Literacy Circles Meeting #3

Pages 179-260

Summary:

Emma puts all the events that have happened lately together and arrives with the conclusion that Summer is the child; not her. That night, even though her Mom made her promise not to, Emma goes to her Dad’s henge. She places the amethyst stone on the socle and a light illuminates the entire field. A thing comes from it and goes to town, Emma doesn’t know what she did. The next day when her Mom and Dad head to the market in town Emma goes too. She drags Summer with her into town, telling their parents that she’s on an errand for Poppy Maxim. They go MacIvor’s ice cream shop and Emma has a talk with Mr. MacIvor (Larry’s Dad and Ina’s husband) but he reveals to her nothing about the child and what Ina did. Emma spots Huw in town but she escapes to Tom’s home before he finds them. Tom explains to her that Summer’s the child and that if they don’t get her back to Argadnel she would die. Tom tells Emma that they can’t trust anyone; not Fergus or Huw. Tom helps Emma and Summer hide from Huw and they go to the henge (the circle gate). Tom leaves to keep an eye out for Huw; leaving Emma to protect Summer. While Tom is gone Keir arrives and Emma, in order to protect Summer, puts around them a protective box. The others arrive too; Fergus, Branwen, Mathus. Fergus orders Mathus to remove Emma’s protective box but he is unable to because Emma’s too strong. Then Letonia comes because she saw Huw chasing them. Emma loses her concentration and Summer disappears. Huw tries to get Summer but Tom manages to save Summer. Keir kills Tom and the Game ends.

Epilogue

Fergus and Queen Rhona stop fighting and Summer (now Queen Elen) gets better after going back to Argadnel. Emma’s Dad is unable to go there and Emma’s Mom misses him. Emma’s now the agent of the people of Argadnel, and Branwen is Fergus’s faction. Queen Rhona’s representative is a guy named Bedeven. Emma spots a large white owl with a heart-shaped face, just like the one Tom used to be.

Response:

      

       The last section of The Watcher was really mind blowing. All the mysteries were uncovered and I finally understood. The Watcher was good read but I wish that I was able to understand it sooner so I could appreciate reading it more.

       The ending and epilogue of The Watcher was sad. Tom died and Emma’s family didn’t get a happy ending; they were separated from Letonia’s husband. Though, at the very end Emma sees a big owl with a heart-shaped face. I think the owl she saw was Tom because when he was alive he would turn into a barn owl so that he could watch over Emma. Tom’s like her Watcher (he used to watch Emma and her family) and I think he really cared about Emma because he helped her during her most desperate time. He died protecting Summer. I was a bit confused when Tom turned out to be Tamhas because Tamhas was hardly mentioned. I was not surprised that he wasn’t actually Tom because almost everyone else turned out to be a different person; Poppy was actually Fergus, Janet was Mathus, and Albert was Branwen. I could have never guessed that Janet was actually Mathus and that Albert was actually Branwen because for some reason I always make the assumption that they have to be the same gender. Mrs. Gray mentioned that there’s a sequel to The Watcher I want to read but I also hope that’s happier then The Watcher. In the sequel I hope to find out if Tom is dead or alive.

       When Emma lost her concentration on her protective box Summer suddenly disappeared. A large moth appeared and Huw tried to get it but then Mathus acted as if he threw something and the moth turned into a yellow mouse-like thing. Before Huw could capture it Tom (in his owl from) scooped it up but after Keir shot him he turned back to a human and Summer appeared in his arms. I think that Summer was the moth and the mouse-like thing because they were all trying to capture it. What I didn’t get was how Summer turned into the moth. Tom mentioned to Emma that Mathus has the ability to turn others into different forms (he turned Fergus into Poppy). What I’m confused about is the fact that Mathus has the ability, probably not Huw, although he is a Druvid too. Though, if only Mathus has that ability it wouldn’t make any sense because during the time when Huw was trying to lure the moth towards him he said that he has it in his cunning eye. Plus only after Mathus made that throwing motion with his hand, did the moth turn into the mouse-like creature. I think what happened was that Huw first turned Summer into a moth, then Mathus turned her into that mouse-like thing, but when Tom was shot Mathus probably lost his concentration and Summer turned back into a human.

       I predict that Emma’s real appearance is that reflection she saw in the Plexiglas stones at the henge because she’s a Watcher-not a human (Mathus mentioned that Watchers are strange singular beings) so maybe in more ways then one she’s different from the average human. Emma obviously has many special abilities; she was able to travel from world to world without portals, make herself invisible, and she was able to create a protective box. It wouldn’t be so strange if she had a different appearance because she’s already strange enough that she has all those powers.