Ice Break Analysis

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In the short story two different conflicts become clear. The main character, Dawn, is in a conflict driven from the outside: the family issues. This conflict is mainly driving the force behind the plot, when Dawn´s father and sister die. Dawn’s father risks his own life in order to save hers. The ice breaking could be a symbol of the family’s complications: “After Dad pushed me out of the truck, I floated up and hit the ice from underneath. Over and over, I kept hitting the ice.” (p. 5, l. 156-157). Dawn physically keeps hitting the ice, meaning she keeps getting thrown into the family complications, just as she does during her everyday life. She always had a strange relationship with her father, and frequently saw him as an angry, careless man. The accident on the family trip happens when the ice breaks. The ice breaking could also be a symbol of the family falling apart, along with the ice. Another conflict of the short story derives from within. Dawn starts to question if she did the right thing by bringing her little sister to the family trip. She feels as if she is the one guilty of her sister’s death: “I looked at their chests for the longest time, waiting for them to move up and down.” (p. 5, l. 164). This proves how she feels guilty of their deaths, and how she wishes for them to wake up again. She puts the responsibility onto herself.

The main theme of the short story is family complications. The family is split and have a challenging time communicating and functioning. The sisters sense their parents divorcing, and talk about it frequently. Additionally, we see themes like guilt and dealing with the loss of a family member. We see how the mother almost denies how her and her husband were not agreeing at home: “I wanted her to say the other part, what she talked to Aunt Helen about, that she was angry with Dad for going, after she and Aunt Helen had told Dad and Uncle Rick it was late in the season and the ice was rotten. She never mentioned that on the news.” (p. 5, l. 171-173). The mother does not want to put her broken marriage on display, instead she keeps it to herself and her family.