A brother's love
Occurring in the first year of FDR administration this is a story of abandonment, sibling
love, paternal loyalty, and fighting for what is right. Morris portrays a homeless man and
his two children fighting to make ends meet after his wife walks out . Placed in Vermont
the two children Thomas and Margaret have sibling rivalry as well as loyalty. The boy
misses his mother and desparately wants to see her again. After a few events that force
to make a move to find his mother he and his sister are placed in a Catholic orphanage.
The beauty of Morris story is the loyalty of the brother for his sister and the eventual
realization that the person who really cares for them is their father not their mother. It
does make us realize that relationships are not always perfect and that not every person
is made to be a parent. The desperate act of leaving her family makes Irene a character
that needs to be understood and not one to be maligned. Morris writes like Steinbeck
but I think this book is better than the Grapes of Wrath. The depression changed a lot
of people some for the good and some for the bad. It is inspirational that so many people survived despite the great difficulty of finding work and caring for their family.
Margaret says at one point that Thomas is spoiled and should like what he gets when
it is given in a caring fashion. Thomas is also becoming a man realizing that not everything adults say is gospel and that adults are not perfect. He rebounds by trying
hard to control his temper and always believing that family is important. Margaret is
the extrovert who can talk to anyone at any time. She is the realistic one who keeps
her brother focused.
