After first seeing Dani, Will thinks of her as “fine as heaven.” Instead of the more commonly used fine as hell perhaps him not wanting to think of swearing around her. As if to somehow not ruin her innocence. On the same page Will describes Danis perfume in which he thinks “Perfume, sweet, fresh, cutting through the cigarette smoke.” The perfume Dani wears could be a reminder of how nice and innocent she was. The last way she could be seen as innocent is the way she originally didn’t want to break the rules saying “I didn’t know smoking was allowed on the elevator” to Buck.
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Jason Reynolds associates Dani with innocence by putting her in a “flower dress, low heels, [and] light makeup.” This gives off a sense that Dani is sweet and innocent. Another way Reynolds associates Dani with innocence is when, “She brushed her hand against mine.” This shows that Dani is either trying to get Will’s attention or flirting with him. Another example is when Dani askes Will calmly why he needs his gun. This is showing that Dani is curious, as anyone would be, to the fact that Will is carrying a gun on him.
¨Sheś as fine as heaven¨ He does still have feelings and isn´t a stone cold killer
Jason Reynolds created her character (Dani) with innocence by creating a relative feeling when you read the book of going back to your own childhood. “The girl smiled. With her eyes. From the playground, she said. Monkey bars. (Reynolds 124)” This shows how Dani and Will knew each other when they were younger as kids. They show how innocent they used to be not knowing anything about killing, when all they thought about was playing on the playground. “Dani was killed before she ever learned The Rules. (Reynolds 141)” This sentence shows Dani’s former life before she got killed.
One way that Reynolds associates Dani with innocence is that Will knows Dani from when they were young and innocent and still playing on monkey bars. Another way is that it’s told that “Dani was killed / before she ever learned / The Rules,” and it seems because Will learned The Rules, he lost his innocence, but since Dani doesn’t know them, she’s still innocent. A third way that Reynolds shows Dani’s innocence is that she’s wearing a flowered dress, which is something that usually young, innocent children wear. She’s also shown to wear the same dress in the picture she shows Will. The last way Dani’s innocence is shown is that, on page 144, she “Slapped her / hands to her face, / tried to wipe / away worry.” This is often something that kids do when they’re embarrassed or worried about something.
Reynolds associates Dani with innocence by describing who they are and what they are wearing. For example, this is how Reynolds decides to describe Dani, “Fine as heaven. Flower dress. Low heels. Light makeup, lip gloss, cheek stuff,” (pg 110). Reynolds' wording of this makes Dani sound innocent, like Dani was someone from heaven, or that they were as beautiful as the flowers. Also, Will seems to know Dani only when they were younger, as said here, “Her face, eight years older than eight years old, but still the same,” (pg 129). Usually, young children are associated with innocence, and because Reynolds implied that Dani died when they were 8, we would tend to associate Dani with innocence.
He shows Dani wearing a flower dress, the same one she was wearing when she got killed. He wrote about the way she looked and smelled and how Will liked it. “The sun shining in my eyes, the sunshine in hers”. When they were younger she was also innocent and not knowing of the type of things that go on. She wasn’t the main target of the shooting because she was just an innocent 8 year old and when she got shot, “Dani said her body burned and all she wanted to do was jump outside of herself, swing to somewhere else like we pretended to do on monkey bars.”
“She brushed her hand against mine”(117) “your right your so right”(121)
She was an innocent little girl when she was eight but she got killed. Now Will is talking to her ghost and is having flashbacks. Even though she's a ghost she is still caring and thoughtful of Will. I think she has feelings for Will since they were right together.
How does Jason Reynolds associate Dani with innocence? In particular: What specific words/images/descriptions does he associate with Dani?
