On the Golden Porch

I think the authors point was not to show how a girl fears death, but more to show how children view the world, compared to the way adults see things. I think she develops this by using poetry and lyricism to engage the reader into the mind of a child.

I think the wonderment and imagination, and creativity of children is just as she described it. The contrast between when their uncle showed them "Aladdin's Cave" when they are children and when they are adults was great. They thought it was a magical place, all of those things were so foreign to them, things they had never seen before were fantastical. When they were adults it was just a bunch of junk oil paintings, cheap beads, and chipped painted night tables and they didn't have time for their tradition of when the clock strikes and the goblet hits the table, Uncle Pasha plays the midnight sonata. When they were children they begged him to play and were in awe of his power to enchant them... They used to "be grateful" and as adults they didn't even have time. "No. Excuse me, Uncle Pasha. I have to go."

I also found the plot to be a little confusing, but that might have been lost in translation. Or maybe it was meant to keep us guessing, keep us imagining. Do you think Uncle Pasha's death might have not been his death but rather the death of their enchantment with him? That maybe Uncle Pasha's ashes were actually his things, his livelihood?