Your dad has vanished, your mom is suicidal, and you are sent to bring home your brother from war, how would you feel? This is exactly what happened to Tilly, a young girl in the novel The River Between Us, by Richard Peck. Tilly is a temperate young lady who is unfavorable by her mother compared to her twin, Noah Pruitt. Throughout the story, she tries to take care of her little sister, Cass, but is unable to connect with her due to her sister's weird-thinking mind. Although she's young, Tilly shows a strong, emotional connection to a man in town named Curry Marshall. However, she is unable to keep their connection as Curry goes off to war and will never be talked about again. At the end of the book, Tilly goes on the adventure of a lifetime as she was sent …show more content…
Deciding to take on this adventure, Tilly shows her bravery for the first time in the book, “It meant stepping off the Backbone into thin air for me, who’d never been out the county," (iBook 169). Another example of Tilly being courageous is when she nurses Noah at Cairo and on their way home. “After I settled Delphine and Noah together, I perched across from them with the hamper and her hatbox. We were going home now, and the locomotive wasn’t pulling us fast enough to suit me," (iBook 231). Tilly went out of her small comfort zone and took matters into her own hands to show her "mama" that she can be strong like Noah. After returning from Cairo and coming to discover that her dad died at war and her mom committed suicide, Tilly realized it was her responsibility to take care of Noah and Cass (iBook 237). Her life was going to change, and she bravely accepted the challenge. Thinking so much about her families well-being, Tilly barely had time to care for herself, which she didn't even realized as she was so engulfed in caring for Cass and