“Ashes” by Susan Pfeffer is about a young girl experiencing the lies and betrayal her father partakes upon her. It shows how he leads her to falling under his plans, all while pulling her farther to believing his love for her is real. Throughout the entire story, young Ashley has felt her dad was the type of man to never do harm. She trusted him, she cared for him, and she helped him out. But what she didn’t know was that he was simply using her to get what he wanted. Deception is the theme of this story because Ashley is ordered by her father to do what he wants through sweet talk and bribing.
From the very beginning, the story’s details show deception. Even when her parents argued over if her nickname was ethical, she believed her father gave it to her as a way to signify his care. “That’s just my nickname for her, dad replied. But ashes are cold, gray, dead things, mom yelled.” Ashley felt that her father truly thought of this nickname through love, but he most likely did it so that she might not suspect he’s an inferior person.
Another detail that shows deception is the fact that her father lured her into doing crude acts, such as him wanting her to steal her mother’s safety
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It helps show that Ashley’s father acts like he is there for her, but he seems to ignore the fact that he doesn’t treat his daughter the way a father should. “A couple days later, when dad forgot to pick me up from 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, I thought maybe Mom was right, and dad did call me Ashes just to annoy her.” This shows that Ashley felt her father didn’t think of others a majority of the time. He thought of himself, when in reality, a father figure should be there to guide and teach his child the ways of life. Ashley’s father constantly conceives people that he will be there for his daughter, but he uses her purely for his
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The poem is written in the father’s point of view; this gives insight of the father’s character and
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An example is her torture during the majority of the book. In 6th grade she went to her friends party, and to her astonishment, a couple began making out in the closet. She called her mom to tell her what was going on and her mom told the mother ...
The lie about Aunt Birte even affected her relationship to the adults in her life. Annemarie was losing her trust in the adults, but was also
Lies play a central part in the play as the story is based around lies
Amanda was a woman who lives in a world of fantasy and reality. In the past memory and the future of the fantasy made Amanda very strong, but in the face of reality she was fragile. Just like Tom used to explain “I give you truth in the
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