Summary Of Ashes By Susan Beth Pfeffer

Ashleigh knows stealing is wrong and that she shouldn’t do it but the rules might change when it comes to her dad. The short story “Ashes” by Susan Beth Pfeffer is a story about a set of divorced parents and their child Ashleigh. Ashleighs parents seem to come from two entirely different worlds, her father a dreamer her mother very practical. However being a dreamer may seem like a good thing it just might have swept her dad off his feet. When her father runs out of money from gambling Ashleigh must choose to either steal money from her mother or let her father be without any money. Ashleigh stole the money from her mother because she hears her father’s voice in the back of her mind reminding her she is one in a million, her dad has led her to believe that he will return all of the money she took from her mother by the end of the week and that her mother won’t even notice, and the dark grey ashes color sky at the end of the story symbolizes that she is going to steal the

The book All Souls: A Family Story from Southie is a powerful autobiography written by Michael Patrick Macdonald. Macdonald wrote this book to bring much needed attention to the crime, poverty and even loyalty that existed in South Boston (Southie), while growing up there. Macdonald wrote about his personal experiences, as well as the experiences of family in friends that lived about Southie, during the time of the notorious Irish Mob leader, Whitey Bulger, reigned over South Boston.

When we have strong love for others, we take risks, we go against our beliefs, we put ourselves in danger, and we let our loved ones go. Without love, there would be none of that. In this book, The Dead and the Gone, written by Susan Beth Pfeffer, a comet smashes the moon closer to earth and it creates all sorts of problems. Alex, a teenage boy with two sisters, starts a long journey of survival and risks. This story is so realistic, at times was hard to read. You start to ask yourself these tough questions, like what you would do in a specific situation. Through out the whole story, love is definitely a recurring theme. It shows you how well love can hold a family is distress together.

In the short story called, “Ashes” by Susan Beth Pfeffer, the protagonist is dealing with the complicated relationship between her divorced parents. Ashleigh, the main character, is questioned by her dad if she can borrow her mom's money for his own problems. Ashes, short for Ashleigh, like the compliments that she keeps receiving from her dad. Ashes complex relationship with her parents makes her choose between her mom or her dad. One lesson this story suggests is that no matter how much you love someone, you have to let them handle things on their own.

As a result, the narrator views Carlton as more of a guardian than either of his parents. It becomes clear that the isolation of the parents is responsible for the unruly lives of their sons. Robert

To give some context to the story, what is currently happening is the Dad and mom have no real stable way of living income wise which has left them with dirty clothes, no food, and depression. How this theme was introduced here was on page 69 in this quote: “...her face was swollen red ‘It’s not my fault if you’re hungry’ she shouted. ‘Do you think I like living like this? Do you?’”. This has shown how the family is paying for the choices that the parents have made and this continues on in the rest of the story with the family still struggling to live free without any from of constraint. The event results in a vicious cycle of depression as demonstrated in Welch when they had to move because of low income and the kids had to go through neglect or abuse from the mother of Rex and when they moved into a broken down house with no heating to try and fend for themselves for winter. This was due to the parents refusal of jobs and wanting easy money, and judging by the context where the mom’s eyes are “swollen and red” she is crying.

The daughter is bored with her mother's dreams and lets her pride take over. She often questions her self-worth, and she decides that she respects herself as nothing more than the normal girl that she is and always will be. Her mother is trying to mold her into something that she can never be, she believes, and only by her futile attempts to rebel can she hold on to the respect that she has for herself. The daughter is motivated only to fail so that she may continue on her quest to be normal. Her only motivation for success derives from her own vanity; although she cannot admit it to herself or her mother, she wants the audience to see her as that something that she is not, that same something that her mother hopes she could be.

A decision is effective no matter what it may be. And Ashleigh, a girl from the short story “Ashes”, has to make a difficult decision. Ashleigh’s parents are divorced, but her father is the more supportive parent, her mother has a more negative attitude. “You’re one in a million.”-Page 2, Her father would tell her. “They’ll laugh at your dreams, even your mother-and she's a saint to have put up with me all those years-even she will discourage you from being all you can be. I hate to speak against her, but she’s not a dreamer, Ashes.”- Page 2, Her father said, explaining how Ashleigh’s mom is. And what he said is true. -“Her name is Ashleigh!” Mom shouted. “A name you insisted on. So why do you call her Ashes?” “That's

Junior’s father is a complex character. In the story, he is presented as a controlling, authoritative and dominant person, but sometimes in the story it seems that there is more about him. “When we are alone he treated me much better, like maybe I was

Lastly, her family betrayed her by not listening to her side of the story after her sister told lies about her, and they betrayed her when they acted as if they did not care if she moved out of the house. In all of these actions, the family itself and certain members of the family are portrayed as uncaring, unsupportive, disrespectful, conniving, deceitful, and hateful to Sister. Through every action of the family, Sister is treated harshly, and she tries to not let this bother her. Yet, anger and bitterness build up inside of her until she cannot take it anymore. Consequently, it built up so much inside of her that it severely affected Sister so profoundly that she moved away from her home to get away from her family.

“A bamboo stick makes a good child.” This was a famous quote that ran in my family for many years since it worked on every child my father knows. I’m not sure it is superior or awful, but it works, for it was authoritarian restraint that tainted me from the past to the current me.

“To this day I wake up at times looked in the mirror and just stare with the idea that the person I am in my head is something entirely different than what everyone else sees” (Huang 45). Children look up to their parents for guidance on finding what they truly want to be when they grow up but it can be hard if they try to shape you into something that they want, and not being true to who you want to be. This memoir Fresh off the Boat by Eddie Huang, is about his early life, and his relationship with his Asian American background. He goes through a tough time with his father's non-stop critical ways and lack of emotion towards people. Eddie accepts and pushes away his father throughout his childhood and adulthood because of his ways.

Angela’s Ashes is an autobiographical memoir written by Irish-American author Frank McCourt. McCourt is the oldest of five brothers and one sister. He along with four of his sibling were born in America in Brooklyn, New York and lived there until he was four and then moved back to Ireland because they had a hard time surviving in America. His family and moved back to Ireland in the midst of the Great Depression finding it hard for his father to get a job because of his alcoholism and his Northern manner. Throughout McCourt’s childhood he was caught in the middle of all the hardships his parents endured. Although, his family endured much struggle, that did not stop them from fulfilling his religious duties, such as First Communion. It also did not stop him and his brother, Malachy from going to school to learn more about their religion. In his early teens, he realized that his father had abandoned his mother and his siblings when he said he would go look for a job. At the age of 14, Frank stopped going to school and got odd jobs to help support his mother and siblings. He remembers his childhood as the miserable Irish Catholic childhood. He himself decided to move back to America when he was 18 to get away from the poverty in Ireland.

After putting a down payment on the new house, Mama gives the rest of the money to Walter and ultimately gives him the role of the man of the house and to step up to take care of the family. However, Walter goes against Mama and decides to follow through with his dream and invest the money in his potential liquor store business. Although, his plans fall through when Willy, one of the “investors” runs off with the money. Not only Walter, but his whole family lose the chance of a better life and are forced to start back up again. They no longer have the money to put Beneatha through medical school or the money to support themselves. Despite the backfall, the younger family keeps trying. Even though the road ahead may be difficult, the Younger family has each other to support one another and that’s all they need. By picking themselves back up after they have lost everything, it shows that they aren’t ones known to give up at the sight of defeat. They kept trying after they had lost everything because having nothing left to lose means that things can only get better from here on out.

Eveline's father is the second most important character in the story, yet Joyce chooses not to reveal his name. That is because he is only a father in a biological sense, falling short at every other fatherly duty. Mr.Hill is a failed provider who takes his offspring’s earnings only to hand it back, allowing him to feel like a “man of the house”. He is abusive and flaunts his dominance by “threaten[ing]” (Joyce 73) Eveline well into her adulthood. The threats seem unprovoked and random, indicating father's attempts to instill fear rather than curb or abolish an offending behavior. Compensating for his failures, the father uses aggression and control to get what he wants. “Her father was becoming old lately, she noticed; he would miss her” (Joyce 75), the narrator draws our attention to the aging of the father and impending helplessness following it. Though Joyce does not clarify how the father will miss Eveline, judging by his past conducts, it is safe to assume that he would miss Eveline’s help around the house and money the most. Still, as she contemplates leaving, Eveline sees good in him and “tries to balance her father's increasing capacity for violence by remembering three random acts of kindness”(Trudell) that seemingly undue all the wrong he has done in the past. No matter