Mudlavia

1. Some conflicts in the story are that …

• The boy’s knee is hurt. He has to go to some treatment spa in Indiana called Mudlavia.
• He finds out that his dad is cheating on his mom.
• His mom runs away.
• He has to get his leg removed because he has a problem in his knee.
2. I crawled underneath the bed and curled up in a ball. Mother finally found me there when she came in. "My God!" she said. "What's happened?" She kneeled in front of the bed, sounding satisfyingly terrified.

This quote shows that his mom wasn’t very caring because she was to busy talking to somebody else even though her son was in pain.

“You sure?" he kept asking me. "She didn't talk to any men?"
I never mentioned Harry Jones to anyone. I told myself that I was keeping our secret, and that Mother wouldn't have wanted me to blab, but that was only part of it. Harry Jones seemed like a fantasy, a figment of our imagination, and I didn't want to expose him to the harsh light of conventional Lafayette. Besides, she could've gone anywhere, with anyone.
"None?" my father said again. "No men at all?"
This quote shows that his mom and dad are not trust worthy. His dad kept asking if his mom was talking to any men. Also, while they were away at Mudlavia, Dottie wrote a letter saying he saw his dad with his cousin in Indianapolis and how she is a stylish lady. This also shows how the dad isn’t trustworthy either.

3. She created suspense in the story by adding lots of details and being real specific.
4. “You sure?" he kept asking me. "She didn't talk to any men?"
I never mentioned Harry Jones to anyone. I told myself that I was keeping our secret, and that Mother wouldn't have wanted me to blab, but that was only part of it. Harry Jones seemed like a fantasy, a figment of our imagination, and I didn't want to expose him to the harsh light of conventional Lafayette. Besides, she could've gone anywhere, with anyone.
"None?" my father said again. "No men at all?"

This part is a strong part because it shows how the parents are very trustworthy. It ties the story together because after this part, the mother ends up running away.

In the late summer I always remember Mudlavia, and not with any bad feelings. I remember the gurgling fountain and the hollyhocks, the wide porch, the soggy baked Alaska. Buster saying, in his southern drawl, "Relax and get well." Harry whispering, "This place is a con game." I remember lying beneath the mud, soaking it up, the stillness and the smell and the flies buzzing, forgetting myself, forgetting that I was even a human being with all the worries and vanities and self-deception that go along with it, and I think that if I could've stayed there forever, buried in mud, I might've had a happy life, instead of simply a good one.

This part of the story is a strong part to because it sums up basically what goes on in Mudlavia. The last sentence showed that he didn’t really like Mudlavia and that it didn’t help him with his knee problem.