Opening Act

The short story “Opening Act” by Jane Yolen and Heidi Elisabet Yolen Stemple is about a young girl named Amanda who thinks that writing poetry is a way to express the deepest feelings in you. Throughout this story, Amanda’s experiences and feelings at the beginning to the end of the story change in a number of different ways. At the beginning of the story, Amanda breaks up with Jeff her boyfriend and she is heart broken because he finds another girl. As a result, Amanda becomes independent and starts to write songs in private diary to express her deepest feelings and to deal with the heartbreak. However, Amanda’s mother is not able to see her sorrow and she becomes worried that Amanda will go into depression.

Consequently, her mother reads her diary despite Amanda’s permission breaking Amanda’s trust on her. She does this to stop Amanda from suffering by herself. At the end of the story, Amanda’s mother sings the songs that Amanda wrote, in front of everyone at the Iron Horse Cafe thinking that it might lessen her sorrow if she shared it. Her mother thinks of her well being and wants to make Amanda feel better. Everyone likes the songs and praises Amanda and her mother. Amanda feels happy, peaceful, and proud.

She is delighted that everyone understands her sorrow and stands by her side. In conclusion, Amanda’s opinion and perspective changed in the story by one of the three important causes.