Crow Lake Guilt

1406 Words6 Pages
By: Kyle Persaud Guilt can be defined as a bad feeling caused by knowing, or thinking that you have done something wrong. The book “Crow Lake” written by Mary Lawson focuses heavily on this subject. Throughout the book many characters feel guilty for actions that they have caused; some even feel guilty for actions they have not caused. The three main characters in Crow Lake, Katie, Matt and Luke show guilt many times in the book. Having all this guilt bottled up inside affected many of their relationships, choices, behaviour and socialness. In a way guilt changed each of their lives forever. Matt Morrison was the second oldest of the four Morrison children. Even so, Matt was the most mature Morrison. After the loss of his parents the Morrison’s were seen as a charity. With four children, no adult supervision, no source of income and a four year old baby, the Morrison's were desperate for help. Throughout their childhood the community would bring them food and gifts to try and help the children. Even though this helped the Morrison children out greatly, Matt didn’t want the help. Matt felt guilty that everyone was giving them gifts and he had no way of paying them back. Matt did not want everyone to see his family and him as a charity. He wanted his family to provide for themselves and not be reliant on the community. “Come on Luke! We can’t live off charity all our lives! You can’t go on expecting other people to look after us. “(Lawson 137.) Matt was also wise enough to know that eventually the community would stop providing them with their crops and food. People were not doing much better than the Morrison family; sooner or later people would not be able to feed their family and the Morrison's. Luke on the other hand does not feel the same way. Luke felt no guilt or sorrow for his neighbours. He felt that it was just temporary and that as soon as he got a

More about Crow Lake Guilt

Open Document