How does the loss of Kates parents affect Kates values and faith - Essay Example

However, this passion for learning is matched by an equally strong iron clad sense of duty. This is the conflict that plays out in Kate’s brother Matt’s life where his sense of duty clashes with his love of learning and aborts his plans in the academic field. As a result, it is Kate who goes on to acquire the learning and become a biologist at Toronto – it is Kate who has the chance to spread her wings and leave Crow Lake, which leaves her with a strong feeling of guilt, since it was her brother Matt who should have been the one to achieve that.

It was her brother Matt who was the real scholar of the family, who had a bright future before him as an academic, however the death of their parents forces him to take up farming jobs that ultimately makes him sacrifice his literary aspirations in order to end up becoming a menial farmer. While learning has been the valued goal in the family, the death of their parents is a tragic event for the four brothers and sisters. It is especially difficult for Kate to reconcile her bitterness and inner trauma at the death of her parents, because she feels that it is the direct cause that brought hardship on the family and made it difficult for Matt to be able to pursue his education.

The suddenness of the event is a feature that adds to the trauma and shock that Kate feels at the death of her parents. She provides a foretaste of the ominous nature of the day as follows:“But for our family, there was an event that summer catastrophic enough to be the start of practically everything.” (Lawson 6). This catastrophic event she refers to is none other than her parents’ death, which ironically occurs just after the family has received some glad news. The eldest brother Luke has been accepted as a teacher at a nearby town and this is not only a joyful event but also a surprising one, because it is Matt who is the intelligent one of the family, acknowledged as the one to follow in the footsteps of