Summary Of Fiddle To Canada By Heather Monley

Paddle to Canada Analysis In the story “Paddle to Canada” by Heather Monley, a happy family self destructs over time. The narrator recalled an adventurous family caught in a storm while canoeing on a lake. After the frightening experience, the parents and children safely made it to shore and were able to find the amusement in the situation. This fond memory changed after the parents divorced. It seems that all of the children’s memories are tarnished. The children are not sure they can tell the difference between what they thought they had experienced and what has been shared with them. The central idea is that current events can cause a person to reexamine the past. The children in the story are conflicted about their childhood memories. The character versus self conflict applies because the children are questioning their interpretation of the events. Once the children’s parents divorced, the family’s happy stories were replaced with unpleasant versions. “They turned these memories over and examined them, shuffled and rearranged them, as if thinking of them hard enough or in the right combination

“A thunderclap boomed and the children put their hands to their ears and screamed” (Monley). The reader is able to imagine a fierce storm that is so violent that it hurts the kids ears. It becomes clear when reading this line that the situation is dangerous. “They remembered their small hands splashing water, and their father’s voice, stern, and his eyes betraying fear” (Monley). Children are often not aware when a situation becomes threatening. The kids are still playing in the water while the thunderstorm rains down. Their father’s voice is commanding in order to get the children to listen. The father did not want to show his fear even though he was scared for his family. He tried to focus their escape in a calm yet forceful