Julia Balder 808                                        Ashes Essay

Many stories contain symbols to enhance the meaning of the story.  In the short story Ashes, the author, Susan Beth Pfeffer, uses symbolism to engage the reader into the story.  The story is about a girl, Ashleigh (known as Ashes), whose parents are divorced and who has an unstable family.  Her father needs money and her mom is in college.  Pheffer uses symbols to strengthen the meaning of her short story.

            The necklace of stars is used as a symbol in the story and shows that it’s something more than just a pretty accessory.  The necklace, I believe, represents how the father says he will do things and promise the main character, Ashes, things, but like the necklace of stars, but he never delivers his promise.  The story says, “Like most promises, this one never quite happened.”  I believe that she is talking about how the father will say that something will happen, but it doesn’t always follow through.  I think that her father is trying to make his daughter feel like he is the best father, and will always be there for her, even though, in most cases, that never quite happens.  As an example in the story, it says how he forgot to pick her up from school and he didn’t have enough money for her to go on the school trip.  He might tell her things, but it often never happens.  Also in the story, it says,  “All I can give you is dreams, Ashes.”  Ashes chooses to put too much faith and trust in her father.  I believe that the necklace of stars represents how people put way too much faith in people who have let them down before and never get what they are hoping for from them.  This strengthens the readers understanding and comprehension of what is going on in the story involving her parents, and her skepticism towards her dad.

            The teapot is also used for more than a house decoration. The teapot is the place where Ashleigh’s mother stores $200.  The money there so that just in case of any crisis in their lives, the mom would have money just for that problem.  The mom refers to it as “Her emergency money, her Martian money, and her earthquake money.”  The story also says, “With mom, there are a lot more rainy days and she takes a grim sort of pleasure being ready for them.  The flashlights with working batteries for a black out.  The extra quarters when the laundry isn’t quite dry.  The giftwrapped bottle of wine for the unexpected and undesired Christmas guest.  Her pocketbook overflows with tissues and tampons for anyone who might need them.”  This quote shows how her mom is trying to be ready for anything that might happen, and that she likes to be ready in advance for everything.  I believe that her mom is so insecure and unhappy about her first marriage and how bad it went, that she is beating up herself for all her ‘bad’ life choices and the fact that they never have enough money.  The story states, “There’s a new diner, opened right around the block.  Let’s treat ourselves, Ashes, and go out on the town.  Can you afford it? I asked, after doing the mental arithmetic of diner versus pizza.”  Because Ashes’s parents don’t have as much money as other families, and because they struggle so much, I can infer the teapot’s real meaning.  The teapot represents a secure place that is safe.  It is a safe place away from the faulty marriage and divorce.  The story says, “The teapot was right where it belonged.  I lifted the lid and stared at her emergency money.  It was shaped like a little house, with a curtained window and a flowerpot on the windowsill. It was the sort of house I’d never lived in, probably never would.”   This symbolizes that the teapot (and the money in it) is a “stable house” that the mom and daughter can still have.  The mom wants her daughter to be safe and happy, just like almost every parent wants for his or her child.  This makes the story stronger by making people realize the pain that the mother went through, and why she does the things, like have a $200 stashed away just for any big problem that threatens her and her daughters life.

Transportation is also more than a bus or a car in Ashleigh’s life. Transportation in this story is the link between the daughter and the father.  The car is the way that Ashleigh gets home, and to her fathers house.  The story says, “It helped that he didn’t live a hundred miles away.  Just at the other end of town, a two-bus-trip ride.”  This shows how transportation is important for keeping Ashleigh and her father connected. Without the bus and her father’s car, it would be hard to get back and forth.  Because Ashes’s father has a car, it makes their relationship so much better because they can be more interactive and the car makes it easier to communicate with each other, rather than going to see someone once a month.  The story says, “Dad drove me home Tuesday nights.”  The car means more than a hunk of metal; it is the link between Ashleigh and her father.  When her Dad needs money, he is very reluctant to sell his car to get the money.  With the car, they get to spend more quality time together, I think, even then when her parents were married.  I think that because her parents had been arguing all the time, she never got time with either of them.  This symbolism of the vehicles makes the story stronger by giving the deeper meaning the idea that the transportation is really the link between Ashes and her father.  

In the short story Ashes, the author Susan Beth Pfeffer, gives meaning to the story using symbolism of certain objects in the story.   There are multiple symbols in the story, but three really stood out: the necklace of stars, the teapot, and transportation (buses and cars).  These symbols all represent problems that either could happen or have already happened in the main character’s life.  The author puts in symbols in the story to make the readers to understand a deeper meaning about the characters in ways that make the story more interesting and relatable.  Throughout the story, the author drops hints as to what different symbols mean.  Pfeffer had perfectly executed putting symbols all over her story, so her readers would get a deeper meaning and having an easier time connecting to the main character’s life.   I believe that stories with symbols are easier to understand and give the reader a greater likelihood of making connections, which strengthens the story overall.