The novel that I have learnt is "Step By Wicked Step" written by Anne Fine. In this story, five children on a trip stumbled upon the diary of Richard Harwick. His sad story prompted the five of them to share their own. From there, they realised that though they did not know each other well, they actually had many similarities.
Based on the novel, both characters Richard and Colin are quite similar in terms of their actions and experiences. In the story, Richard and Colin's love for their fathers was unquestionable. Also, they missed their father very much since their absence in their lives. The only difference was, Richard's father was dead but Colin's was not. "Sometimes, i sit beside my father's grave...". Whereas in Colin's case, his mother moved them away without his father's knowledge."we moved away". Colin still had a chance to see his father and was searching for him. "I can believe that he is still out there somewhere". Meanwhile, Richard would never see his father again.
Besides, they were also ignored by their mothers. Both Richard and Colin did not get much attention form their mothers after their fathers disappeared from their lives. In Richard's case, his mother never defended him even when Reverend Coldstone mistreated him. "Is this how my mother defended us? No it was not." Whereas Colin's mother was not aware and did not bother to know how much he missed his dad because she was too busy working at the canteen and doing household chores. "She was always too busy to listen to anything I said" As a result, neither one of them could feel their mothers' love.
Not only that, as they faced much difficulties in their lives, which affected them emotionally, both Richard and Colin decided to run away to make things work. Richard resorted to run away from home in hopes that his absence would make life more pleasant for everyone. "Perhaps you would all live out your fairy tale more happily without the black clouds I bring!" On the other hand, Colin planned to run away to find his father. "As soon as I'm tall enough, I'm off." In the end, Richard realised that running away did not solve anything but made everything worse. Colin did three paper rounds to save money to search for his father. "You see, I'm saving up now. I even do three paper rounds."
In conclusion, the two characters suffered much pain and sorrow when their fathers disappeared from their lives. What made matters even worse was that they felt nobody cared for them. There was no one they can turn to for comfort and advice, thus, prompting their decision to run away. Evidently, Richard's story taught us that running away does not solve everything in fact, it can affect the people around us. Therefore, we need to think twice before making a serious decision.
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