Why do fireflies have to die so soon?- Derganz Baker

The Grave of the Fireflies was an extremely emotional movie.  Even though I didn’t cry I do admit the movie did pull at my heart strings. The brother sister connection was extremely strong between the two main characters. The first glimpse of their connection is at the beginning of the film when the air raid alarms go off. The brother ties his sister to his back and is about to run out of the house and his little sister freaks out because she doesn’t want to leave without her doll. Most brothers would tell their sisters to forget about the doll and tell them they need to get to safety. Seita was different, he runs back and grabs the doll and runs out the door.

Something else I noticed was that whenever Setsuko cried Seita did everything he could to comfort her. Once he gave her candy, which isn’t exactly the best thing to do, but it was nice.  He never seems to get upset or frustrated with her. Everything he did was for her. He didn’t want to tell her about their mother’s death because he knew it would crush her. And when she was sick he took her to the doctor and got really upset when he didn’t help her.

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Society isn’t very kind of children in this movie. The first sigh of this is when the children go to live with their aunt after their town is destroyed. At first the aunt seemed decent; she shorted all the food that the children brought with them. But later on she trades their mother’s clothes for rice and only gives them half of the food. They should have said something right there instead of being happy with half. The next thing she did to them was tell them they didn’t dissever the same kind of food that her husband and daughter got because they didn’t do anything to help their country. The second adult that the children had direct contact with that was cruel was the farmer. The farmer is also mean to the children for turning in the brother for stealing. Society didn’t care about people who weren’t part of their family. They would see children almost dead in the street and just keep walking.

I like the way the movie connected the children with fireflies. Fireflies don’t live long, but while alive they are full of life and beautiful just like children. They are the perfect example that beauty doesn’t last. We need to live life to the fullest because life can be cut short at any time.  The article that we read that went along with the movie was good. It was more interesting than I thought it was going to be.