Post #14 Heidi by Johanna Spyri Chapter 11 Summary

Chapter 11 begins by talking about how Heidi had given up praying because her problems were not being fixed, but Klara's grandmother convinces Heidi to try again. Then Heidi was reading a story out of the book that Klara's grandmother had given her and she burst into tears because the story was about a grandmother dying. Heidi thought that the grandmother in the story was Peter's grandmother and that this was actually happening, eventually Klara explained to Heidi that the grandmother in the story was not real and that Peter's grandmother wasn't actually dying, but this just made Heidi cry more because she started thinking about her grandfather or Peter's grandmother dying while she was away and then being all alone. Fräulein Rottenmeier yells at Heidi when she hears her crying over the story in the book and she says that if she does it again she will take the book away, this makes Heidi stop crying because the book is one of her dearest possessions. Heidi's homesickness gets worse and she gets paler and loses her appetite because of it despite Sebastian's attempts to make her feel better.

The theme of Heidi is that adversity can be the doorway to wondrous adventures. This theme is supported by the fact that Heidi faces many obstacles such as Fräulein Rottenmeier's cruelty and her difficulties in learning her ABC's and how to read, but is able to overcome them with the help of her friends. When Heidi overcomes these obstacles it leads to new adventures such as having fun living in Frankfurt and learning to love reading. The theme is also supported by Heidi going to live with her grandfather which seems like a bad situation at first, but she is able to improve her grandfather's life and enjoy living with him in the Alps. These are just some of the examples of how this theme applies to Heidi.