Cayla
Nardiello 808
Many families living in the U.S. don’t have a steady
relationship with their children, causing their children to almost do anything
to have their parents notice and care about them. In the short story, “Ashes”
by Susan Beth Pfeffer. a girl named Ashleigh, or, Ashes for short, struggles
with family issues. Her father is jokey, and rarely sees Ashes, though her
gives her dreams, and promises he can never keep. Her mother is very business
like, and want her daughter to succeed in life. Throughout the short story,
there is a reoccurring theme about Ashes father using her, and never fulfilling
his promises to her, as a real father would.
At
the end of the story, when Ashes’ dad manipulates her on pg.123 where Ashes is
given the choice to steal from her mother, or keep a steady relationship with
her father, it says, ‘“What do you want me to do, Dad?” I asked. “Come into the
apartment with me and take the money?” … “That would be robbery, Ashes. I would
never steal from your mother. I’ve caused her pain enough.”’ This shows us that
Ashes’ father won’t steal from the mother, because he fears he will get in
trouble. So, he told Ashes to steal from her mother because then Ashes will get
in trouble, not him. The money might be a symbol for Ashes’ hopes, but her dad is
stealing them from her, to fulfill his own. He has never been there for her,
but she always forgives him, and forgets. Another example is on pg.117, where
it says; “...when Dad forgot to pick me up at school, or didn’t have the money
for the class trip, or got all his favorite kinds of Chinese, and none of Mom’s
and mine…” This shows me her dad is self serving, he never bothers to ask
anyone how they are doing, or tell them how nice they look, until he wants
something from them. He is a selfish man until he wants something that someone
else has.
Ashes’ dad always raises her hopes, then destroys
them by breaking his promises to her. An example is on pg.115, where it says,
‘“When I was little, Dad used to promise me stars for a necklace, but like most
of his promises, that one never quite happened.”’ This shows me that the
necklace is a symbol for all the father’s broken promises. Because you simply
cannot raise the hopes of a child by lying to her. We all know stars are
burning hot balls of gas, which cannot be chained to a necklace. And not even
that, he could have bought her a necklace at the very least- or made one, with
plastic stars on it, just so that he technically kept his promise, and it makes
Ashes smile to know he cared enough about her to make an effort to make her
relived that he loves her.
In
conclusion, the story ‘Ashes’ is mainly about how Ashes’ father manipulated her
to get what he wanted. I think Ashes’ father did care about her, but he didn’t
really know how to care for her. He did asked her to steal for him, and that’s
not okay. He’s her father! A real father wouldn’t ask for money from their kid,
especially since he never sees her! A real father would never owe anyone money,
and then have his daughter steal from her own mother. I think Ashes’ father is
a symbol for false hope, because even though he said could make everyone smile,
he really only made Ashes smile because she wanted him to love her, she’s so
desperate for his affection, she almost stole $200 for a father who doesn’t
know how to love his own daughter properly.