Maya Weitzen

April 30, 2016

Mrs. Linteau

English 7H
Opposites Attract

Good and evil. The first duo of opposites that are brought to light. Both are
antithetical to each other. Polar opposites. Nothing perceptively could make
them become analogous. That is the case for most literary pieces, but not the
horror novel written by Lois Duncan titled Locked In Time. This book
consists of a protagonist named Nore Roberts that visits her newly remarried
father and his new family consisting of a stepmother antagonist Lisette, and
her two children, loyal Josie and closed-off Gabe, and depicts characters that
seem, and are for the most part, drastically divergent from one another.
Although it may sound dreadfully clich, opposites do in fact attract. In this
novella, even the most contravening people can share characteristics,
whether its stepsisters, different genders, and mother-son relationships, the
similarities existing with these idiosyncratic characters are exhibited through
the characters ponderings, notions, and dialogue present in the text. The
shared characteristic in this story involving all four of the aforementioned
characters is the trait of audaciousness.
Ah, the stereotypical stepsister. It is instilled in every childs brain that
stepsisters are horrid and crude, and are opposites of the leading female
heroin. Well, in the book Locked In Time, that is not the case. Both
stepsisters, Nore and Josie, may appear as those who wouldnt have any
commonalities, but that is a misconception. Both Josie and Nore share the
characteristic of audacious or daring. This shared characteristic is portrayed
as part of both Nore and Josie by Lois Duncan describing the risky actions that

they partake in. For example, on pages one hundred eighty-seven and one
hundred and eighty-eight it states, I opened my own door and stepped out
into the hall. As I walked slowly down it, trailing my fingertips along the wall
for guidance...When I reached the door to Dad and Lisettes bedroom, I
opened it quickly...My father was... snoring... Lisette... slumber... Bypassing
the wallet, which was situated near the top, I groped down into its depths
until my hand closed around what Id come for- a metal ring that held a large
assortment of keys (Duncan, 187-188). In the prior quote, it discusses how
Nore decides to drug her father and her newly-titled stepmother so that they
fall asleep, and wont have any midnight stirrings. After she commits this act,
she creeps out of her bedroom, takes the risk of being caught by her recently
active stepsister, and she steals the Shadow Grove Estates master set of
keys. It is as clear as glass that Nore had to effectuate these seemingly
malicious and deceitful acts in order to survive and uncover the truths there
at Shadow Grove. But this operation took more than just her will to live to
bloom, there was the underlying necessity of the attribute audacious. Now
that the reader can see that Nore is posolutely dauntless, Lois Duncan
timelessly shows the ironic twist of her allegedly heinous stepsister
comparing as inconsequentially akin. This is solidified when Lois Duncan
narrates, I wanted them to sleep so I could go into their room, Josie said...
See what I brought you! She extended her hand and opened the balled up
fist. In there was a roll of bills. Its almost five hundred dollars. She
continued to thrust at me. Go on Nore take it (Duncan, 185). As stated in
the antecedent detail, Josie decides to administer her own mother and
stepfather an allocation of special anisette that makes the drinker feel

abundantly tired. She conducted all of that just to pilfer money. Clearly, she
did this undoubtedly audacious act just to protect her newly recognized
stepsister from the vileness that is Lisette Berge. The followed through with
events that she could have been beaten for, and put her life on the line
concurrently. Additionally, Nore and Josie both conducted similar events that
required the trait of audacious in order to take place. They both put their lives
and sanity on the line when partaking in these duties, and therefore proved
that they homogeneous to each other by ways of both being audacious and
daring. So if shes the evil stepsister, what makes the princess not?!
Girls and boys. Another enthralling opposite. Girls supposedly have
nothing to do with boys, and vice versa. Well, except their species. So what
would a good girl and an evil boy have in common? That is another
boundary that this book surpasses. Both characters Gabe and Nore share the
commonality of having the character trait audacious that is brought up
through their bold actions and nail-biting dialogue. First off, this jaw-dropping
similarity is illustrated to the reader when, I dont want to chauffeur Josie
around today, I said... Dont be ungracious Nore... I was familiar enough
with my fathers stubborn nature to see that this was a no-win situation...Josie
was was in the front seat next to me when I drove away from Shadow Grove.
I mean it Jo-get out! Dont make me shove you. Im bigger and stronger than
you and you might get hurt (Duncan, 159-160). As related in the past
quote, Nore felt a surge of adrenaline and distaste for Lisette and her whole
distorted family, and decides to execute a rash decision of evicting her sister
from her car, while explicitly asserted by her paternal guardians that she is
forbidden to. Clearly, she is aware of the consequences of disobeying her

father, and she decides to imperil herself. This indubitably proves that she is
audacious because she defies her parents wishes and risks seething in the
mind-boggling aftermath. Not only does Nore prove right-off the-bat that she
is audacious, but Gabe does so as well as distinctively shown on pages
eighty-one and eighty-two when, Tonight Gabe poured their drinks from the
bottle in his room... Josie and I like to refer to them as the regular and the
lullaby-time,... And off to the Danceteria! (Duncan, 81-82). In this
particular instance quoted in the text, Gabe decides to sedate his mother and
stepfather with a concoction that he compiled together that he titled sleepytime anisette. He took the risk of possibly killing his guardians, and driving
his sisters off to a foreign place with unfamiliar people at the dead of night.
All for the chance of dancing his heart out with a girl that he was very fond
with, sanctifying that he is indeed audacious. Not only does both Nore and
Gabe have the individualized aspect of being daring and audacious, but since
correlation is defined through shared character traits, and they both share
audacious, that therefore exhibits that they are very agnate. Clearly, not only
can good and evil definitive people coincide, but girls and boys can
on top of that.
The mother-son dance. A timeless classic shared by the children and
parents of America. Yet, this mother and son duo will never have their dance
as they are trapped in the shackles of time. But in their own little bubble,
these two may not want to admit it, but they are more comparable than
contrastable, as they both are bonafidely audacious. This audacity is depicted
through the demonstration of behaviors and characteristic dialogue. Gabes
audacity is determined when it is stated on page 95, I want to have a good

time too. I like to drive fast. It gets the adrenaline flowing. Whats the use of
living if you cant do things you enjoy?... So maybe I am like Louis, or maybe
Id like to be! Lou had guts! He did things his way and accepted the
consequences! (Duncan, 95). In the aforementioned exemplar, it recalls
that Gabe narrates how he has a passion and steam for driving at a deathly
velocity. Plainly, Gabe is sick of his never-ceasing life. Therefore he decides to
take an abnormal amount of risks, to the point where his actions become his
character trait of audacious, and he strives to become even more daring than
presently. But an apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and when the trait of
audacious was divvied out, Lisette acquired the first batch. The novel
delineates Lisettes own audacious side when it she narrates descriptively,
What were those rites? I asked, trying to conceal my eagerness...The vision
of Henri aging with the years, while I remained untouched by the passage of
time filled me with malicious satisfaction... I will do it, I replied, unsure but
ready (Duncan, 202-203). In the precedent quote it discusses how Lisette
partook in the rites concerning the Bowl of Years: an form of gris-gris voodoo
that she really knows nothing about, and her only median of information is a
small woman who is most likely unreliable. Yet, she decides to commence
with the Bowl of Years rites, taking the risk anyway. It is certain that she feels
that the benefits outweigh the risks, therefore she undertakes in the deeds,
therefore making her undoubtedly audacious. However, since both Gabriel
and Lisette relate to the overarching characteristic of audaciousness, they
both are complementary. They are deep down similar, and therefore they
share a hidden bond. Hmm... like mother like son.

In the final analysis of the book Locked In Time crafted by the spectre
Lois Duncan, it is tremendously clear that a handful of characters share the
commonality of the trait audacious. Through the newly woven relationships in
this novel, there is still a constant of audacity. Between the never-ending
diversity between the characters- being one-hundred and fifty years old, etc.one would assume that these characters would drastically variate in their
personalities. Well, in this case, the characters couldnt be more similar.
Family. Enemies. Infatuation. Paradoxes. Nothing changes the real soul of
humans, making these characters sharing traits inevitable. So the real
question that arises is: what are the true boundaries of good and evil?
*Extra Credit Assignment*
perusal-(denotation)
noun
1.
a reading:
a perusal of the current books.
2.
the act of perusing; survey; scrutiny:
A more careful perusal yields this conclusion.
Perusal- (connotation)
A reading done by a peer/editor to review