It's not Grapes of Wrath, and some of the plot is contrived and unsatisfying. It's also predictable -- if you know there's some time left, you know another awful thing has got to happen.
But it's hard not to come away from this story of struggle for the bare necessities without thinking how spoiled we now are. Christmas is just over. I heard whining on the airplane about the cabin being a little hot for a few minutes, and someone was howling because they couldn't next sit to their friend. At home, the grandnephews get a ridiculous amount of presents. How much more meaningful even just one would be to a poor child! And I think back to my own ire at dinner one night being delayed for a couple of hours, while at any time I could have had a snack to keep me going from enough leftover food to feed an army.
You do have to think that our material wealth and ease have at the same time diminished us.
But it's hard not to come away from this story of struggle for the bare necessities without thinking how spoiled we now are. Christmas is just over. I heard whining on the airplane about the cabin being a little hot for a few minutes, and someone was howling because they couldn't next sit to their friend. At home, the grandnephews get a ridiculous amount of presents. How much more meaningful even just one would be to a poor child! And I think back to my own ire at dinner one night being delayed for a couple of hours, while at any time I could have had a snack to keep me going from enough leftover food to feed an army.
You do have to think that our material wealth and ease have at the same time diminished us.