Family Relationships

Write about the setting for the story

The setting for the story Step by Wicked Step is one dark stormy night when five schoolchildren on a school trip stayed in a towering mansion. They found secret tower room that was hidden behind a wall. The lights in the mansion were not working and they has to depend on the streaks of lightning and the moonlight for light.

The tower room, covered in a coat of dust, had not been used for a long time. There were heavy drapes, plain dark coverlet and frame old maps. A dusty green album revealed the story of Richard Clayton Harwick’s journal entitiled” My story, Read and Weep. Following this each one of them related their own sad story of their broken homes and relationship with their family members.

Time :
1)Evening- party meals organized by Stella for Claudia father thirty- seventh birthday.
2) Night- Claudia decides to make something for her stepmother when she fells sorry for her.
Location
1) Her granny’s house- her father stays in her granny’s after argue with her mother
2) Stella’s house – the party meal for her fathers’ birthday and the things she does for Stella.

Richard related the story of his life with his stepfather and he ran away to escape his problems. All the five children symphatised with Richard’s situation and they each has their own sad tale to tell.

The setting enhances the plot of the story by providing the atmosphere for the story. The tower was dark except for flashes of lightning and later the moonlight. It gave the children the mood and courage to tell their story. The dust in the room symbolized their past which should be wiped away so they could look forward to a brighter future.

Write about difficult decision made by one of the characters

The novel Step by Wicked Step is about five schoolchildren who found and read Richard Clayton Harwick’s journal of his life with his stepfather and his running away from home. The five children were inspired to tell their own sad family stories of broken homes.

In the story, Richard Clayton Harwick made the difficult decision of running away. Richard Clayton Harwick felt sidetracked by his father who made him promise to look after his mother and sister after his death. His father made no reference to him. He was disappointed and to make matters worse, his mother remarried. His stepfather Mr. Coldstone or the ‘black, black bat’ as Richard referred to him imposed very strict rules on Richard, to the extend that he felt his home was more of a prison. He was sent to Mordanger School where he spent ‘four long years’ and it was a place of bad memories. He was extremely unhappy in his own home, a place where he had such a good memories of his father. He was disappointed that his mother did not seem to want to make any effort to protect him from his stepfather.

Richard decided to run away from home. He felt that the three of them, his stepfather, mother and Charlotte would be happier without him around. His mother would find life more pleasant, Mr Coldstone would be pleased and Charlotte would not miss him. I think this was wrong decision as his decision changed three lives for the worst. His mother died of heartbreak, his stepfather of fury while Charlotte probably of childbirth.

I feel he should have stayed on and tried to get along with his stepfather for his mothers’ sake. He should have let the past go and kept the happy memories of his father instead of feeling and showing unhappiness all the time. As Charlotte told him just because life had dealt them one hard blow, there was no reason fro them to be unhappy forever.

His decision to run away was not right decision as it caused too much sorrow.

Write about the social issue in the story

In the novel step by wicked steps, five schoolchildren read the journal of Richard Clayton Harwick which detailed his sad story of family life with a stepfather. The five schoolchildren who come from broken homes were prompted to relate their own family life story. The reader is reminded of the issue of family relationships.

Richard came from a happy family unit until his father passed away and his mother married to Mr. Coldstone, somebody Richard could not get along well with. He felt that he did not belong to his family, his mother and his sister anymore. While Cahrlotte got along well with their stepfather, Richard could not and did not want to. So, he decided to run away, thus breaking off family relationship with them rather than bear the unhappiness of bad family relationship.

The five schoolchildren coming from broken homes had to deal with stepparents, stepsiblings, and half siblings. Some accepted these relationships well other could not. Most of the time they pretended to be amiable for their parents’ sake. When matter came to head, some like Claudia and Pixie sorted to out their feeling with their stepmothers. They were thus able to rebuild their family relationships. Others like Callie, Robbo’s sister, preferred to run away from their problems.

The common thing about them was they felt their opinions and feelings did not count with their parents. Family relationships should be built on understanding and parents should take into account children’s opinion, especially on the issue of family relationship.