Independant Reading; Along for the Ride; Theme & Summary III

Some of the real life issues that are reflected in the text of Along for the Ride  are topics such as judgments and divorce. In the book, Auden's parents are divorced and this causes most of the conflicts in the book because Auden currently lives with her mom who still hold a grudge on her former husband, Auden's dad. And he makes it even worse because he has a new wife that he is married to that Auden and Auden's mom doesn't like. . . at all. They think that Auden's dad's new wife is too annoying with her bubbly personality. The problem in the book is that Heidi, Auden's dad's new wife, wants Auden to visit them and their new baby and stay with them for a little while. While Auden wants to stay with them to get in touch with her dad, she wants to avoid Heidi to every extent. But when Auden finally starts staying with them, she realizes over time that Heidi was doing all the work around the house, and that her dad was doing nothing to help, which was exactly why Auden's mom got a divorce with them anyway. So now that Auden doesn't have any judgments or grudges, her mom still unfortunately does. When Auden's mom comes to visit, it was a rainy day and she doesn't know that Auden was working at Heidi's store, the most pink, girly store in the whole town. Before Auden left the house, she borrowed one of Heidi's, of course, pink rain jacket and she started to head down to the store. Little did she know that her mom was going to see her and be very disappointed. When Auden's mom walked into the store, Auden immediately recognized her mom's voice and ,"her displeasure more than evident. Auden said," When she finally got to me, she didn't look any happier." This connects the topic of divorce and conflict because it is like cause and effect; the cause is Auden's parent's getting the divorce, the effect is now Auden's mom judges every single decision that Auden's dad makes, like marrying Heidi. The theme continues from the beginning of the book; don't make judgments based on a decision made in the past in which perspectives differed.