What is young Tom's philosophy for dealing with the future? What does Ma's burning of the old stationary box illustrate?
Tom's idea is to live for the day. Spening four years in jail can change a man, and for Tom, that's probably what happened. Tom's mind is unique and I think that his separation from his family for so long is also what leads to his beliefs.
"How can we live without our lives? How will we know it's us without our past? No. Leave it. Burn it." Before the family leaves for California, Ma goes through things one last time and goes through the old box of stationery. She went through the box and chose a few tiny things, then burned the rest of it.
The reader is left to feel sympathy for the characters because they are forced to leave everything behind. Many of the possessions that were left behind were like things in Ma's stationery box. The family could not afford to let themselves become overly saddened by leaving things behind. They had to move forward and remain as positive as possible rather then let themselves become wrapped up in the sadness of what they had to leave. There was no room in the car for anything that was not essential.
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I agree with you when you say "Spening four years in jail can change a man, and for Tom, that's probably what happened" because once Tom was realeased from jail he became a different person. After I read, I did feel sympathy for the family because I wouldn't like to be kicked out of my house. It also sucks that they have no way of stopping this natural disaster.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think that Ma would have to look through things one last time before leaving?