Ashes. Not necessarily meaning a pile of gray particles found in the fireplace after burning logs and wood, but as another way of saying, “fallen”. In the book Ashes, by Kathryn Lasky, Gabriella (Gaby) Schramm witnesses the beginning of Hitler’s rise to power and starts to lose all the things she loves as Hitler uncontrollably climbs to his throne. Then if that wasn't enough, the people she thought she could trust, turn out to be Nazis. Throughout the story, Gaby races to find the secret of Hitler and is struggling through the break of war. In the story, the author develops the theme that nothing is as important as a family connection/love because it will always be there for you, by using the characters, the settings, and the use of repetition/symbols…show more content… For example, in the beginning of the story, it uses the word and creates the image of ashes from cigarettes and firewood, “Suddenly, I caught a sharp, acrid smell, Tobacco smoke, but not a cigarette, not a pipe. I instantly knew what I was smelling. I opened my eyes just in time to see the ashes fall silently off the tip of a cigar.” Then, as the story continues forward, the author starts using the word ashes and creates an image of ashes to describe houses being burnt to the ground and buildings exploding such as when it says, “A shower of burning stones shot up onto the air and came flying down towards me. The clear sky turned dark after the explosion. Ashes fell to the ground as if it was a rainstorm.” In addition to the other uses of repetition, the author uses the last scenes in the book were literature or books, clothes, and even people were being torched and burned. Everything Gaby thought she loved turned to ashes, but the only thing that the Nazis couldn’t turn to ashes or throw up in flames is the family bond that she shared with her family because the love that they had for each other outweighed every possession they had
