'A Family In Richard Ford's Optimists'

858 Words2 Pages

In the short story “Optimists” by Richard Ford, Frank, the main character lives in Montana in the 1950s with his father, Roy Brinson and his mother, Dorothy Brinson. Frank’s world changes when his father kills a man. This event which seemed like it materialized out of nowhere affected Frank’s life permanently. The main character, Frank, seemed to have a traditional family before his father killed Boyd Mitchell however, this is not true if we look closer at his family life. Paying attention to minor details, the reader can see how all these things added to destroy his family life. Frank’s mother, Dorothy loved working, but as Frank got older his father made her relinquish working to stay home and supervise Frank. Working made her feel like she could be her own woman and be free of a standard marriage of the wife just running the home. Franks states, “My mother did not work then, though she had worked at waitressing and in the bars in town-and she liked working.” (Ford 33). This reveals that she liked the constant change of people that go in and out of bars and restaurants. She felt freedom in this. Frank’s father not allowing Frank’s mother to work …show more content…

Dorothy went to the YWCA to swim and the YWCA building is also where Boyd worked. Roy didn’t kill Boyd just because of the conversation that night. Frank’s mother being around Boyd may have looked bad to Roy especially since it made her feel happy and free. It says in the short story “I still like to swim” (Ford 40). Swimming made her feel free because she didn’t want to be an ordinary housewife. When Boyd was confronting Roy about how he could have saved the man that was accidently killed earlier in the story, Boyd always being around his wife could have been in the back of Roy’s mind building up anger and hate because his wife enjoyed spending time with Boyd more than being a stay at home

Show More
Related

  • Family is Crucial in Angela's Ashes by Frank M. McCourt

    559 Words  | 2 Pages

    Family should be of the upmost importance. Through the use of characterisation Frank McCourt questions the significance of his family unit through the use of his selfish actions. In the text the father gets his first job and “Mam is happy”. Frank Senior does the right thing by getting himself a job to support his family. In 1930, Ireland Friday was payday “Mam is out of bed … cleaning … and singing” This is explicitly showing that the mother is a traditional housewife that is happy she doesn’t’ have to rely on charity. However, later on in the text, Mam has cooked dinner and is waiting for Frank to return home, but Frank does not come home until well after the p...

    Read More

  • Quotes From Angela's Ashes

    1227 Words  | 3 Pages

    His alcoholic father only progresses this lifestyle through disregarding his family’s poverty. These moments in Frank’s life makes him ponder his environment and the way he affect those around him. Throughout his childhood, Frank is increasingly coerced in becoming a provider for his family, despite him being only a child, he must take on responsibilities that should only be required of an adult. He is doing this all while taking on the challenge of receiving acceptance as child of Limerick, the Catholic Church, and his own family. Through these hardships, Frank learns many things. He begins to see his environment for what it truly is, extreme poverty and hubris. He gains a longing for a life where he can go beyond his Physical and esteem desires. Maslow explains that all people have a need for a stable and firmly based high evaluation of themselves for self-esteem and for the esteem of others. Esteem plays a large role in growth and development. Without esteem this can create a destructive path for a person that can follow them in the future. Through Maslow’s lens, Frank’s father represents an example of this. An example that Frank wishes to

    Read More

  • Relationships in James Agee's A Death in the Family

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    Spending time with each other, having strong morals and giving a lot of love are a few of the things that give families hope and happiness. In the novel A Death in the Family (1938) by James Agee, a family has to use these advantages in order to make it through a very difficult time. During the middle of one night in 1915, the husband, Jay, and his wife, Mary, receive a phone call saying that Jay's father is dying. Ralph, the person who called, is Jay's brother, and he happens to be drunk. Jay doesn't know if he can trust Ralph in saying that their father is dying, but he doesn't want to take the chance of never seeing his father again, so he decides to go see his father. He kisses his wife goodbye and tells her he might be back for dinner the next day, but not to wait up for him. Dinner comes and goes, but he never arrives. That night, Mary gets awakened by a caller saying that Jay has been in a serious auto accident. She later finds out that he died. The rest of the novel is about Mary and her family's reactions to the death. This experience for Mary and her family is something that changes their lives forever, but it doesn't ruin them. If someone has a close person to them decease, he or she feel as if they cannot go on, but because of the close family ties that Mary, Jay, and their children shared, they know that they will be able to continue on after Jays death.

    Read More

  • Montana 1948 Themes

    785 Words  | 2 Pages

    The book "Montana 1948" by Larry Watson is a story happened in a small place, Montana, which mainly focuses on justice verses family loyalty, the need for power and the racism. With the exposing of Frank’s crime which is rape and murder, the serious conflict between Wesley’s family and his father’s has raised. Wesley decided to use the power to do good things which is sending Frank to the jail, no matter who the person and his or her relations are, people must pay for their crimes, (pg. #150). However, Julian tried to protect his son by abusing his power. This issue ended with the suicide of Frank. So, the power and control contests between Grandfather and his son, Wesley, is the most critical factor that lead to the tragedy in Montana.

    Read More

  • My Antonia Essay: Jim Burden

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jim Burden’s early years follows the structure of the idealized childhood of the American West, one where he can run freely in the country and is surrounded by the natural world. However, prejudices are still prevalent in his community, and have a noticeable effect on its inhabitants as they mature. From a young age, members of the Black Hawk, Nebraska community are instilled with the idea that daughters

    Read More

  • Ford : The Man 's Truck

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Man’s Truck In the last thirty-eight years, Ford has known how to target the audience they have for the F- series of trucks. After the new advertisement that Ford produced, it can be implied that they replicated their success again. With the first commercial being aired on television and online during the 2014 college football playoffs, Ford had a marketing strategy. It is apparent in almost all of the advertisements, including this one that Ford produced, is to showcase the newest and the best of the best F-Series of trucks and that they aim to get all the hard working American man.

    Read More

  • Far From Heaven

    1901 Words  | 4 Pages

    For the length of the movie, we never see any women or men outside traditional roles. All of the men in the movie have authoritative positions, whether it be Frank as the executive in the firm or the restaurant owner. The women however seem to be placed in lesser supportive rolls, homemaker, secretary, and waitress. In the case of the seemingly upper-class group that Cathy associated none of the women ever had jobs, their lives revolved around their family, setting up dinner parties and gossiping. This was an accurate portrayal of the way people thought in those days; it was supported by the way the women and men were treated at parties and the work place. When ever Frank went into his office, the secretary was sure to take his coat of for him, and if Frank wanted to speak to his wife get he on the phone. When at dinner-parties it was always the hostess’s job to make sure glasses were filled and people were having a good time. The discrimination caused by these emotions weren’t as obvious in the movie, but it can be assumed that Cathy never went to college because she was a woman in this period.

    Read More

  • Angelas Ashes

    1348 Words  | 3 Pages

    Beyond Frank’s world of imagination and books were all of the male figures in his life. Frank’s father was never around much so he didn’t receive any type of guidance from him. Frank said some where in the novel that his father was like two different p...

    Read More

  • A Short Biography: A Brief Biography Of Henry Ford

    616 Words  | 2 Pages

    Henry Ford was born in what is now Dearborn, Michigan on July 30, 1963. He grew up on his father’s farm, and when he wasn’t working (which was most of the time), he attended a small, one-room school. As a child, he was interested in steam engines, and even taught himself how to fix watches. Early in his life he demonstrated qualities of an entrepreneur like being a good leader and learning from trial and error. Henry could have been a farmer like his dad, but decided to follow his own path and do something else with his life. Because of his curiosity with machines, he decided he wanted to pursue that career and left the farm to become an apprentice at the Michigan Car Company (Railroad cars). This propelled him into an engineering and business career. Ford mastered the machinist’s trade while working at his many jobs, but to learn more about business he attended Detroit Business Institute for three months. These beginnings helped make him the successful entrepreneur we know him as today. Sadly, Henry Ford died on April 7th, 1947 from a cerebral hemorrhage, but his impact on A...

    Read More

  • Psychosocial Development Case Study Analysis for the Movie Little Miss Sunshine

    1914 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ 2006 movie Little Miss Sunshine, they depict the tribulations of a dysfunctional family trying to get their daughter to a beauty pageant, while encompassing strong portrayals of common issues in the United States today. It communicates the individual’s struggle to be perfect, as well as the difficulties of the average middle class family in society. In this paper I will analyze three characters; Olive, Dwayne, and Richard Hoover, identifying their life stages, psychosocial development, role in the family and their resiliency through the stories challenging circumstances.

    Read More

  • Henry Ford Thesis Statement

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    Behind every great business these us a great vision from the founder. We all know or should know that the future hold for us. Henry Ford was one of them people that had a great vision for the future. He was for the Americans with average incomes. He a vision to change the way we get around in our everyday lives. Mr. Ford was born on a farm in (birthplace). Where he spent his time indulging into his engineering efforts on the farm by working on ways to work smarter and not harder. Henry Ford did not like working on the farm as he was coming up because he found the work very tedious. His parents put a work bench in the house so Henry could study things such as a watches. He would take something a part such a watch and analyzed the inner moving

    Read More

  • The Shameless Show

    1277 Words  | 3 Pages

    These types of people are considered “freeloaders,” those who try to work the system to get money. He spends most of his days in a drunken stupor. Frank is a selfish manipulator who does not take the responsibility of being a father, leaving all of it on Fiona's shoulders. He would throw his kids or anyone else under the bus just to support his own habits. In the show many hate him for what he is and his actions towards his kids. I feel as if he only betters Fiona's character, making her look stronger and independent. Franks character helps shape Fiona's.

    Read More

  • Neighbor Rosicky Analysis

    1039 Words  | 3 Pages

    Having a harmonious family is a part of the American Dream. In The American Dream, written by Jim Cullen, a soldier wrote to the newspaper that he would “relate to” their “wives and children, parents and friends, what” they “have witnessed…” (Cullen, 114). Willa Cather introduces Rosicky’s family, which emphasizes on close relationships and positive community impacts in “Neighbor Rosicky”, and F. Scott Fitzgerald suggests that Charlie wants his role as a father back in “Babylon Revisited”. Even though both Cather and Fitzgerald value intimate families in integrity, they have different attitudes toward life.

    Read More

  • Henry Ford Early Childhood

    1851 Words  | 4 Pages

    On the early morning of July 30th, 1863, William and Mary Litogot Ford gave birth to a healthy baby boy they named Henry Ford. Henry was the first born of six kids, his siblings consisted of three brothers (John, William and Robert) and two sisters (Margaret and Jane). The family of eight lived on a family farm in Dearborn, Michigan. Henry spent most of his tie in a one room school house then coming home to do chores on the farm. When he had spare time, he would run around and play with the boys that were his friends. Henry wrote that his first memory was of his father showing Henry and John, the second youngest boy, a bird’s nest which had fallen under a downed Oak tree. Mary Ford while managing a family taught her children how

    Read More

  • Fordism Essay

    587 Words  | 2 Pages

    Fordism which is a term that was named after a man named Henry Ford, is a notion based on the industrial mass production in the 20th century. What is Fordism? As Renault defines it, “Fordism can be conceived as a specific mode of framing of the dynamics of capitalist accumulation within a specified institutional system” (Renault). Fordism took its name from the mass production of Ford motors. With Fordism, there was a huge change in productions, there was a “rationalization of the labor process”, which led to a loss of workers, a reduction in unit prices, an increase in production and an increase in the volume of production. Renault states that “Fordism has unquestionably ensured the highest level yet of democracy and social justice” (Renault). Fordism made it possible to sell more, which became an increase in demand. Fordism is a method of industrial production; it is aimed to get its products at maximization by highly controlling it and dividing its production tasks. Henry Ford was famous because he invented the Model T car and he revolutionized the system of mass production. Becau...

    Read More

More about 'A Family In Richard Ford's Optimists'

Open Document