“The Pye nightmare was destined to become entangled with the Morrison Dream” (7) When an individual doesn’t accept past experiences and lives with resentment instead of moving forward it could cause negative behaviors towards their relationships with others and ultimately limiting perceptions of what is truly happening. In the novel Crow Lake by Mary Lawson, Kate’s choice to constantly resent past experiences and not live with acceptance causes her to have a negative behavior towards her relationship with others, limiting her perceptions and making her believe her opinions were always true.
In the novel Kate’s older brother Matt, unlike Kate, accepts his life and has no resentment. While Kate is living a life full of resentment and isn’t
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Kate resents Daniel because she thinks he has had life so much easier than Kate has. This is in Kate’s opinion and as a result of her limited perceptions she doesn’t truly know what it was like for Daniel growing up, she just assumes that he has had life easier. However, she accepts him because Daniel is so much alike Matt; it allows Kate to fill the void Matt left behind. Daniel is essentially what Matt could have been and should have been, but because he is not truly Matt, rather a replacement, she degrades him. Kate tries to point out faults in Daniel that do not exist in reality such as saying he “is naïve in some ways. He hasn’t had to struggle for anything in life and that has made him easygoing” (150) in order to make her and Matt look better. She perceives Daniel somewhat like Matt’s shadow, almost identical but never allowing Daniel to appear better than Matt in her mind. Daniel is just like Matt and in reality should be better than him in regards to the Morrison Dream, but in Kate’s mind Matt will always be better than everyone. Kate’s perception of Matt is that he is this perfect person. Kate can never truly make up her mind however, since Matt is living with Marie he should no longer be seen by Kate as being better than everyone, he should be part of the “Pye nightmare”(7). Kate should see herself and Daniel as being better than him but instead chooses to live in Matt’s shadow. Kate’s negative behavior impacts her relationship with Daniel greatly but Daniel is not the only person being affected by