Hurricane Song

            In the book Hurricane Song by Paul Volponi a 16 year old boy named Miles goes to live with his dad in New Orleans. Miles and his fathers relationship is not great and they don't really know each other. But then miles and his father get a hurricane warning and decide to leave town. Miles, Pops and his uncle get stuck in traffic and almost run out of gas, so they turn around and seek refuge at the Super dome, where it was turned into a shelter. Once miles and his family gets there, they realize what a scary and horrible place this Field had become. thousands of families without food, and shelter, gangs terrorizing the entire Super dome. But there is one thing that stands out in the book that really got my attention, and this was a symbol. The symbol was Miles drums. The drums represented Pops and Miles relationship before they had one, and represented their relationship when Miles and Pops started developing a good one.
            In the beginning of the book Miles feels like his father is choosing his instrument and his music over his own son. Miles also feels like pops wants Miles to like what he likes and that Pops doesn't support what miles wants. For example in the story hurricane song Pops gave Miles a drum, saying that they could play together, but what Miles really wanted was some sports equipment. This shows that the drum is an important symbol because it shows how complete strangers Pops and Miles are and how Miles wants Pops to get to know him.
            In the middle of the book Miles starts to accept the person that Pops wanted Miles to be, and stops being so stubborn about the drum. For example, when Pops and Miles are stuck in the Super dome, Pops asks Miles to play the drums for a funeral march and miles did. Miles wanted to be there for Pops and for Cyrusis's (the person who died) family. This shows that Miles stops being so stubborn and was there for the people he cared about. The drum symbolizes that.
            By the end of the book, Pops and Miles had built a strong relationship and worked together and respected each other. For example in the book hurricane song it says, "So I picked up a broken tabletop and pounded out a rhythm to match Pops." This shows that Miles finally learned to work together with his dad and respect Pops love for jazz.
            Have a drum represent a person's relationship, makes me think longer about relationships with parents and hoe delicate and complicated they are. It took a while for Pops and Miles to built a relationship. It made me think of how much hardship they went through, and how it helped their relationship grow.