Is the End Near?

Now that winter has settled in heat s hard to preserve. Matt, Miranda’s brother, has to learn to ski in case they have to travel across the town, and Miranda has to keep the sun room’s roof without snow so that it doesn’t fall. Mother is recuperating slowly which is still better than not at all. They still haven’t heard from dad.

Water has now run out and they have to turn off their oil furnace and have to use the snow as a water source. Food is also running out which is why the whole family has to ration the food every time more and more in order to survive. Because Jonny is the youngest sibling, they are all trying to make him live the longest and Miranda has to skip meals so that Jonny eats more. Soon Matt also skips meals to help his brother. Even though these are hard times, Miranda is glad that her family is well fed and has survived to this crisis.

Soon it is Christmas and the family is happier than ever. They are eating more food; they have recycled presents and have decorated the whole house. The celebration of this year was an unforgettable one.

But shortly mom, Matt and Jonny get sick with the flu. They are all ill, so Miranda decides to run to the hospital for help. When she arrives she notices that everyone in there is sick and dying (if they aren’t already dead). She sees that Peter, her mother’s boyfriend, is dead. That is when Miranda realizes that there will be no help this time and that she will have to save her family. In the end she does, she cures them all and even though she had to give them three meals a day, they were all much better. Because of the scarcity of food, Miranda decides to go to town and explore to see if there was any food available. Which there is! There is a man that is giving out food and promises to bring her family food every week.

Miranda’s family has survived trough a terrible crisis. But thanks to her, mom, Matt and really every member in the family, they are all alive and together.

Because of this book, I recognized that being under deplorable circumstances, brings humans closer and makes people feel empathy towards each other more than what we are used to every day. This can be shown in the book when Miranda says:

“Right now I’m reading the American Revolution.

The soldiers had a tough time of it at Valley Forge.

My heart bleeds for them” (Pfeffer 276).

This quote shows how felling connections with others who have suffered, or just experienced the same things that you have, make people reach for comfort and feel better when they are exposed to bad conditions or are facing a bad situation. I think that this is a great way to grow as a person because you are learning that there are other people out there feeling the same way as you are and that you are not alone in life. 

In the end, this book made me realize the importance of the small stuff of life. That in the end, is what makes life meaningful and worth living for.

“But today, when I am 17 and warm and well fed, I’m keeping this journal for myself so I can always remember life as we knew it, life as we know it, for a time when I’m no longer in the sunroom” (Pfeffer 337).

Just like Miranda said in the passage above, we have to live in the now, for us, for our family. It doesn’t matter if you live for a diary or for a person, you should live doing what makes you happy. Everyone deserves a life and can use it for whatever they want as long as what you do makes you happy. 

In the end, this was a book that truly has a lesson for everyone to learn. We should all live life and not be afraid to risk it. We should also try to appreciate the little that life has to offer and be grateful for every day we have in this world.