Napoleon's Ashes Quotes And Analysis

Ashes are usually cold, grey, and dead to someone, however, this is a different story. Ashleigh, or Ashes, is a girl who’s parents are divorced. On a Tuesday night in the winter, Ashes and her father go out to a diner, and she realizes that her dad isn’t acting right. When she asks what’s wrong, her dad confesses that he owes 200 dollars to someone, and Ashes wants to know if she can help; her dad tells her that she can by taking Ashes’s mom’s emergency money. When they drove back the her mom’s house, Ashes decided to take the money because she had asked many questions about the topic, the way the parents were described, and how Ashes has a better relationship with her dad than with her mom. The first reason Ashes took the money was because

If you look at pages 1 and 2, you see how not only Ashes illustrates her mom, but you can also see how the dad describes the mom. Ashes says at the beginning that, “she just called me Ashleigh-a name she didn’t even like-and never promised me anything.” (Pfeffer 1). This shows that Ashes probably doesn’t like the mom that much because she never gave the fake promises and hope like her dad gave her. The dad also describes the mom in the same way by stating, “she will discourage you from being all you can be….but she’s not a dreamer….She’s the most level-headed person I know,” This is essential to Ashes taking the money because if Ashes likes her father more than her mother, then Ashes will most likely take the money for her dad! Another piece of evidence is that the mom is rarely brought up for something good. She was only brought up in a conversation when it was something bad about her, or it was to describe her traits. For example, Ashes describes how her dad could make anyone smile, except for her mom (Pfeffer 2). This was not a nice thing to say about her mom, and many other topics that included her were not well. The concluding piece of evidence to relate to this topic is the description of the dad. Ashes was told multiple times from her father that he was a dreamer, and he gave her promises, and gifts (Pfeffer 1). This tells the reader that the dad is supposed to be the “good parent” of the story, and the mom was the “bad parent”. If her dad was described as someone else like a robber or a hard worker, than the story would not be the same because the answer would be easier for Ashes to