Fourth post...

My passage:
"But I wasn't even on South Avenue or Robinson or any street I recognize. As I fell, my face approaching the pavement- slowly enough to notice things in a surreal way, but too fast to do anything to prevent imminent impact-I glimpsed unusual cars. I mean, I'm not an expert on cars or anything-I classify them by color rather than make- but these were all big and rounded in an old-fashioned kind of way that just screamed, 'Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!'
Yet another wrong thing was the people I caught sight of on my way down. A man in an ugly tweed suit, wearing a hat and carrying a big satchel, turned from the doorbell he was about to ring and gawked at me. And there were several women- all dressed in pastel dresses that were buttoned and formfitting on the top, with really full skirts that came below their knees, not a pair of pants or shorts among them. The women, too, wore hats-not like sun hats or rain hats or winter hats, but these itty-bitty why-bother? hats with flocked netting coming over their foreheads- giving the impression they all had really nasty collections of freckles, warts, and birthmarks. One of the women had a little girl with her, also wearing a hat, and- as she watched my endless fall- the mother grabbed hold of her child and spun her around to protect her from seeing me flattened and/or splattered. Woman and girl were both wearing little white gloves (Velde 116-117)."

I think this passage helps develop setting because as Wendy is about to get hit by a car she is describing the things around her and what she sees, what the people look like, and even the personality or culture of the place she finds herself in. I wonder why though, the author would bother to explain/describe such a short scene in the book? What does this time warp have to do with anything? I guess if you think about it- maybe the author described the setting because she wanted the readers to get a good idea of the culture that Wendy's grandmother is surrounded by. Later in the book- Wendy's grandmother becomes more important to the story line as Wendy wishes more and more that she could be like her grandmother. Another way to look at it might be that the author what the reader to see the culture difference between Wendy and her grandmother's times or maybe because Velde wanted the reader to experience a culture shock.

Questions: Still wondering- is it really possible to make such glasses that let you see things that are normally visible to the human eye? Do other creatures such as that blue trouble-making creature or the "old witch" exist in the real world? Did the author have a reason for writing the book about creatures that supposedly don't exist to make people more thoughtful of their surroundings or others? Is the "lesson learned" of the book supposed to teach the reader to be more respectful of others that are completely different from them, no matter who they are or what they look like?