Craft, character and theme

The craft in order: dig the clay → soak it → pound it in bamboo cylinders → shape it by hand with a spatula → touch it up after two or three days → dry it in the sun → fire it in a kiln on hay and bamboo.

A rhetorical question. Arenla asks, And the reward? She expects no answer. The question stresses, bitterly, how little she earns.

Cause and effect. Sentila is too tense (cause), so the clay will not take shape (effect). Once she relaxes, it does.

The characters:

• Sentila: persevering, observant, a quick learner;
• Onula: thoughtful, kind and generous with her help;
• Arenla: tired of a hard, poorly paid life, yet a master of her craft.

The themes:

• perseverance turns a dream into a skill;
• a traditional craft is shared heritage that must be passed on;
• the craft lives on: Sentila equals her mother on the very day Arenla dies.

A memory hook: the three Ps. The story is about Perseverance, Passion, and Preserving a traditional skill.