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Ashleigh In Susan Beth Pfeffer's Short Story 'Ashes'

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District Common Assessment Essay “I lifted the lid and stared at her emergency money.”-pg4. Ashleigh is a character in the short story “Ashes” by Susan Beth Pfeffer. In “Ashes”, Ashleigh is a teenager whose parents are divorced and complete opposites. Her father is a dreamer and not responsible while Ashleigh’s mother is always prepared and extremely responsible. Currently her dad has a financial issue and Ashleigh has a choice between, letting her mother down by stealing her emergency money or letting her father down by not stealing the money. Ashleigh takes the money because she wants her father’s life to be set, her dad cheers on her dreams which makes her feel obligated to help, and she prefers her father over her mother. Ashleigh wants …show more content…

“One in a million,’ he said ‘And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, Ashes.”-pg2 acknowledges her father. The dad is Ashleigh’s cheerleader always upbeat, but since he wants to make her dreams come true she in return ”owes” him a “favor”. Kind of like when someone gives another person a compliment the other person feels obligated to say thank you because they did something nice for the other person now it’s the opposite person’s turn to return the favor. Pfeffer illustrates this through ashleigh in this quote, “I love you so much,’ he said ‘ You’re ten thousand times better than I deserve, Ashes’....’I had an thought,’ he said as he reached for my pickle.’ Your mother keeps a couple hundred dollars cash at her place.”-pg3 As iterated previously when someone gives another person a compliment the opposite person has the obligation to say thanks you, well in the quote the father is giving the compliment and then slightly afterwards cashing in the favor. Ashleigh now in a way has to steal the money or else it would be unfair towards all her father’s support. Ashleigh’s dad is manipulating her love for her to help him get the money he needs. Illustrated on pg 4 Pfeffer uses personification and foreshadowing to exaggerate the choice Ashleigh makes at the end of the short story. “I could hear my father’s car keening in the distance ’You’re one in a million,’ it …show more content…

“That winter it felt like every time I saw my father, the sun cast off just a little more warmth than it had the day before.”-pg1 The author is using this quote to portray the preference of parents Ashleigh has. Her dad is obviously her favorite because pleasing him is rewarded by praise while rewarding her mother is just barely an acknowledgement. For example if Ashleigh pleases her mom it won’t matter while if she praises her dad she gets a compliment. When she gets a compliment from her father she feels better than before. This is presented by Pfeffer when she writes,”Mom might never be caught without batteries or tissues, but she just called me Ashleigh-a name she didn’t even like-and never promised me anything.”-pg1. Ashleigh is stating that her mother takes care of her, but doesn’t care for her. While her dad may not be able to take care of her, he cares for her. The father is the supporting, caring and loving parent while the mother is more of the parent who brings in the income. Ashleigh’s father is always helping her when she has a problem, so it’s okay if she helps him now when he has a problem by stealing the money for him. “I hate to speak against her, but she’s not a dreamer, Ashes.”-pg2. Whenever Ashleigh is around her father she is more joyous than when she is with her mother. Her dad gives the illusion that he truly cares, but in all honesty he is almost talking himself up and partially

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“Oh well, Ashes you can always see right through me. ”P.3. The author used this metaphor to help the reader realize how well Ashleigh knows her dad, and this helps the reader further by understanding that the trust between Ashleigh and her dad is mutual. This is how he knows it’s ok to tell her about his situation and that he needs money. “ ‘Can I help?’

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From the start of the story, Susan Pfeffer tries to make it very obvious that Ashes looks up to her father. Ashes’s father makes her always feel better and more free than she feels with her mother. “That winter, it felt like every time that I saw my father, the sun cast off just a little more warmth than

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This shows why the main character, Connie, makes the choice to ditch her Abuela based off of her judgements on her. The author uses this point of view so you can understand the feelings Connie is going through rather than just believing she is a rude teen . The short story Ashes states, “‘You’re one in a million,’ he said to me. ‘The best daughter a man could dream of.’ I got out of the car and ran over to the apartment.

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By doing so she is coming across as an affectionate and understanding parent, who wants their child to recognize their full potential. In another example she states, “It will be expected of you my son, that, as you are favored with superior advantages under the instructive eye of a tender parent, you improvement should bear some proportion to your advantages” (21-24). She is reminding

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Ashes Common Assessment “Never put your child in a place to where they have to pick which parent to love.” Don’t ever do this because it puts your child in very hard situation. They might think that if they do something for one parent the other parent might get mad at them. It’s just like this story “Ashes.” Ashleigh took the money because her dad isn’t very wealthy and he needed the money, she’s closer to her dad then her mother, she felt sorry for her dad.

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it is very common and adds excitement to the story. The conflict of “Ashes” is character vs self. This is because Ashleigh is fighting against herself to do what is morally right or to help her father by stealing for him. When Ashleigh “lifted its lid and stared at her emergency money“ she had to make a decision on whether to make take the money or leave it this and the final outcome is unknown(Pfeffer 4). This moment in the story was crucial in the plot because it starts the climax and when both sides of Ashleigh are fighting the hardest against the other.

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But, as she grew older, she realized that they weren’t people that should be admired. Her father was never home, drunk, and wasting their money gambling, while her mother was either crying on the sofa or trying to fulfill her life long dream of becoming

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How Women Achieve Change The Leaving, by Budge Wilson was a short story about a mother and daughter’s literal and internal journey from two women whose lives were ruled by a male’s stereotypical perspective of a woman’s value, to individuals who decided their own worth. The mother, Elizabeth, achieved this by confronting her husband and stating with force, her self-identity, and the daughter achieved it by questioning the actions of the men around her; all which would not have happened, if the mother had not made the choice to leave. The three symbols in the story, which reinforced the character development of both Elizabeth and Sylvie, were light and warmth, a knife, and two paintings. Elizabeth's characteristics changed immensely when she

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Ashes stole the money because Ashleigh cares about her dad too much, she believes that her dad will pay her back, and Ashleigh would do anything for her dad. Ashes cares about her dad too much, that is why she stole the money. Ashes saw her dad was worried about something and didn’t like that he was worried. Ashes wanted to take away the stress that he had. A quote from the book had Ashes saying “I wouldn’t have any other dad,”(Pfeffer,2).

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This quote shows that her mom is not only caring but she knows the limit in which Ashley can handle her emotions. Although help was available, she decided to keep her feelings to herself which resulted in a mental breakdown that mentally left a permanent scar throughout her whole life. This reminds of an old friend of mine that had experienced their parents passing away, she also had available help to talk about but decided to bottle those feelings up just as Ashley did. This also resulted in the mental breakdown for my friend which also changed her life in several different ways. This really conveys the importance of reaching out to others about your issues rather than bottling them up to eventually release all at

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District Common Assessment Essay Ashleigh lives a rough life with tough decisions. In the short story, “Ashes” by Susan Beth Pfeffer, it’s winter and Ashleigh had to decide whether she should take money from her mom’s emergency pot for her dad or just keep it there for her mom. Ashleigh’s parents are divorced, so she doesn’t know what her punishment will be for which ever side she will pick. Ashleigh decides to take the money because she wants to make her dad happy, her mom doesn’t appreciate her as much as her dad, and her dad needs it for something that will let him go far in life.

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Will Dobert Hour 2 District Common Assessment “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” -Theodore Roosevelt. In the short story Ashes by Susan Beth Pfeffer, a girl named Ashleigh is being pressured by her dad to do the wrong thing; steal money from her mom’s emergency money stash. Ashleigh’s parents are split up and her dad is short on money.

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When you Know it Have you ever had to make a decision where no matter what you do, it’s still going to end badly? Susan Beth Pfeffer, the author of “Life as we Knew it,” has left an incredible cliffhanger. In “Ashes,” Ashleigh has to steal from her mom to help her dad. Her other option, which is to not steal, which will help her mom, but her dad will get in even more trouble than he already is. In the end though, Ashleigh chooses to help her dad because he spends the most time with her, he’s having Ashleigh steal to help the mom, and she looks up to him.

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In this story, Ashleigh makes a point to make her father cheerful and proud. Throughout the

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Sometimes you have to choose between two people you love. This was the case for Ashleigh in the story,”Ashes”. Ashleigh lives with her mom because a few years back her parents got a divorce. Her father owes a lot of money and isn’t doing so good, so he wants Ashleigh to take her mother's safe emergency money. She has no clue know what to do.

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