Ashes Essay

        Every person will face a moral problem In their life. In Susan Beth Pfeffer’s short story, “Ashes,” the reader is introduced to a family facing divorce. Ashley, nicknamed, Ashes by her father lives with her mom and sees her father every Tuesday. Through the complicated relationship between her and her parents the author shows the reader how the decisions we make shape who we are.
The relationship between each of her parents is different. In the story Ashes explains how she feels with her father and says, “Felt like every time I saw my father the sun cast off just a little more warmth than it had the day before.” This makes me think that the distant relationship between her and her father makes every time she with feel special.  This shows that the days that she sees her father are a lot more special to her than the days without him.  Ashes also talks about what the father would promise her and says, “Used to promise me the stars for a necklace, but like most of his promises, that one never quite happened.” He promises things but never follows through. The father doesn’t understand that by promising something so big can have a bad affect on Ashes if that promise doesn’t come true. 
The reader experiences Ashe’s doubt and disappointment with her father. While describing the relationship between her father and mother Ashes says, “Dad could make everyone in the world smile except Mom.” The mom realizes that the Dad is a bad person and Ashes notices it but wishes it weren’t true. She loves her father but from what her mother thinks about she knows something is up. While her and her father are deciding where to eat, the dad suggest a diner and Ashes says surprised, “Can you afford it?’ I asked after doing the mental arithmetic of diner versus pizza.” Ashes is beginning to question the fact the dad can afford such a fancy dinner when they usually get pizza. She’s trying to figure out where her father is getting all this money and why is he giving her such a fancy meal. 
In the end she has to make the big decision to listen to her father or stand by her mother. The father begins to tell Ashes about how he needs money and tries to persuade her into taking money from her mom’s secret money safe and says, “It’s me she’d be angry at...I’d have the money in your hands by Friday,” Ashes then says “Dad I don’t know...that’s a lot of money...what if Mom finds out?” The dad makes it seem like it’s fine for her to steal the mom’s money. Ashes feels that she shouldn’t steal the money from her mom but yet she wants to help her struggling father.  “I looked out the window and saw only ash grey sky. In the cold stillness of the night, I could hear my father’s car keening in the distance. ‘You’re one in a million,’ it cried.” She is starting to feel hesitant to take the money. She also feels guilty and torn between the two parents.

Many teens are faced with problems of having divorced parents and often have to make important decision that affect their lives. In the end I predict that Ashes makes the decision to take the money from her mom’s secret money safe because even though she’s stealing from her mom she wants to help out her struggling father. She realizes that her father isn’t financially stable and even if it’s taking money from her mother she wants to help out her dad anyway she can.