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Wednesday, 10•22•14
Reading Response Essay: "Ashes" by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Many children have to choose between their parents. In the short story "Ashes" by Susan Beth Pfeffer, the main character, Ashleigh, has to choose between her divorced parents: an irresponsible but idealistic father and a responsible and accountable mother. Ashleigh values her father's positive traits, but can't respect him because of his actions.
Early on in "Ashes," Ashleigh speaks highly of certain aspects of her father's personality. After describing how her mother made her feel badly towards her father, she gives an account of his better side:
But then dad got me roses or sang me a song he'd written for me. Or maybe he moved two buses away. And I realized he still called me Ashes, where Mom couldn't hear him to be annoyed. And that made me feel special all over again.
Ashleigh admires her father's compassion, since it makes her feel liked as an individual. She acknowledges that he helps her feel better about herself. Another piece of evidence that suggests Ashleigh treasures her father's qualities is when she says that "the sun and the moon dreamed with him." This illustrates how she thinks that his idealism is important, as important as essential parts of the day like the sun and the moon. Ashleigh appreciates her father's character.
Though Ashleigh's father's relentlessly positive outlook strikes her as idealistic, it also begins to feel inauthentic and even manipulative. She gets tired of her father for constantly commending her, and telling her that she is "one in a million." His compliments come to seem insincere to her; she thinks to herself, "Last week, he told me I'd be an astronaut." With a hint of sarcasm, Ashleigh sheds light on how her father's adulation is growing less meaningful when he bestows it upon her without grounds or restraint. This point is also illustrated when Ashleigh's father asks her to take money from her mother to pay off a debt of his. When driving to Ashleigh's mother's home, she and her father do not talk to each other. This shows how Ashleigh feels awkward doing this favor for her father. When her father tells her where her mother's money is, she thinks, "I don't think either of us was supposed to know that." This suggests a dwindling level of respect for her father in Ashleigh, as she learns another way that her father has crossed her mother. Ashleigh finds it hard to like her father because of his ways.
In conclusion, Ashleigh finds it hard to maintain respect for her father despite admiring his values. His irresponsible and disingenuous behavior outweighs his optimistic personality. Her father teaches her to be insightful and find ways to enjoy her life, and she loves him for it. But her father's own life is in a shambles as a result of his irresponsibility and unwillingness to address important situations. Her mother is relatively safe and secure, but is significantly limited in what she can teach Ashleigh about becoming her own person—she is very rigid about her ideas, and not very passionate about them. To be successful in her life, Ashleigh will need to combine aspects of both of her parents. She will need to be a dreamer like her father, to enjoy her life and keep herself entertained with ideas. But she will also need to be responsible like her mother, to maintain a secure environment for herself and stay afloat in society. Ashleigh will have to learn to avoid the extreme attitudes of her parents, find a middle ground, and rise to her full potential for the rest of her life.
Early on in "Ashes," Ashleigh speaks highly of certain aspects of her father's personality. After describing how her mother made her feel badly towards her father, she gives an account of his better side:
But then dad got me roses or sang me a song he'd written for me. Or maybe he moved two buses away. And I realized he still called me Ashes, where Mom couldn't hear him to be annoyed. And that made me feel special all over again.
Ashleigh admires her father's compassion, since it makes her feel liked as an individual. She acknowledges that he helps her feel better about herself. Another piece of evidence that suggests Ashleigh treasures her father's qualities is when she says that "the sun and the moon dreamed with him." This illustrates how she thinks that his idealism is important, as important as essential parts of the day like the sun and the moon. Ashleigh appreciates her father's character.
Though Ashleigh's father's relentlessly positive outlook strikes her as idealistic, it also begins to feel inauthentic and even manipulative. She gets tired of her father for constantly commending her, and telling her that she is "one in a million." His compliments come to seem insincere to her; she thinks to herself, "Last week, he told me I'd be an astronaut." With a hint of sarcasm, Ashleigh sheds light on how her father's adulation is growing less meaningful when he bestows it upon her without grounds or restraint. This point is also illustrated when Ashleigh's father asks her to take money from her mother to pay off a debt of his. When driving to Ashleigh's mother's home, she and her father do not talk to each other. This shows how Ashleigh feels awkward doing this favor for her father. When her father tells her where her mother's money is, she thinks, "I don't think either of us was supposed to know that." This suggests a dwindling level of respect for her father in Ashleigh, as she learns another way that her father has crossed her mother. Ashleigh finds it hard to like her father because of his ways.
In conclusion, Ashleigh finds it hard to maintain respect for her father despite admiring his values. His irresponsible and disingenuous behavior outweighs his optimistic personality. Her father teaches her to be insightful and find ways to enjoy her life, and she loves him for it. But her father's own life is in a shambles as a result of his irresponsibility and unwillingness to address important situations. Her mother is relatively safe and secure, but is significantly limited in what she can teach Ashleigh about becoming her own person—she is very rigid about her ideas, and not very passionate about them. To be successful in her life, Ashleigh will need to combine aspects of both of her parents. She will need to be a dreamer like her father, to enjoy her life and keep herself entertained with ideas. But she will also need to be responsible like her mother, to maintain a secure environment for herself and stay afloat in society. Ashleigh will have to learn to avoid the extreme attitudes of her parents, find a middle ground, and rise to her full potential for the rest of her life.
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