Lydia's Story, q's 1-4

1. Brideau's main point is to show how important it is to have hope when in terms of hard times. Brideau is informing about how Lydia continued to stay strong even though she knew that it was going to be very challenging to conquer the hurricane. The author doesn't assert the main point but does give a clue at the end by saying "But it's Lydia's story that stays with me the most, probably because it represents the essence of hope and determination in the face of terrible adversity.

2. Brideau's primary point of view from which she narrates "Lydia's Story" is in the third person. She addresses to Lydia as "she" and tells Lydia's story as herself not being included for the most part. Brideau tells the readers how Lydia survived the hurricane and how a woman in scrubs took Lydia aboard. The impact that the point of view has on me as a reader makes me want to keep reading it because I get so intrigued as to how Brideau is telling the story of Lydia and her staying positive and doing the smart things she did make me want to keep reading to see what happens in the end.

3. Brideau makes her narrative "come alive" by using vivid details to help her describe the setting, the people and the overall story. She uses words like "small, slender black woman" and "short gray hair neatly tucked up inside a kerchief" it helps us see what Lydia looks like. When Brideau explains how the VFW hall she used words like "chemical odor of a cleaning solution so strong that it seemed toxic." and it was "uncomfortably cold" compared to the heat outdoors. She explained the water from the hurricane as "brown rushing water" and the water pressure was so terribly strong "the water spouted from the kitchen sink like a fountain". All of these words appeal to the readers' emotions by showing how the hurricane was impacting such am innocent woman and how it was terrorizing her home, and how she just had to sit perched in her tiny closet shelf watching her home get taken away from her.

4. Since this piece was published in Health Affairs the audience would be towards health politicians, health care workers and health researchers, Brideau's tone is not very formal and boring but it is a good story that anyone could be interested in reading by the honesty and word choice she uses. She uses words that anyone can connect with and words that are simple but still get you feeling sorrow when reading this piece, she uses words and phrases like, "Lydia climbed off the kitchen counter and waded through the deep water, dragging a small kitchen stool behind her." She also wrote, "Lydia waited, cramped on the top shelf of her linen closet, until the water finally began to recede." She uses simple words, but they still make the readers feel sorrow.