Dysfunctional Family In Literature Essay

Families are described in all shapes and sizes in books of literature. The perfect family, the loving family, the illiterate family, and more significantly, the dysfunctional family are all found in literature. The dictionary definition of a dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict often occurs in an in orderly fashion, thus leading children to grow up with the understanding that such an arrangement is normal rather than dysfunctional. Even though the background or story behind the dysfunctional families in works of literature are different they all share a few traits and aspects in common. Dysfunctional families in literature each follow a road map that involves three distinct traits. These aspects are; how others, society and the outside world view the dysfunction, the unfolding of the shaping process and how each character responds to the dysfunction whether through overcoming it or letting it destroy them. Each of these points are functions of a dysfunctional family found in many works of literature and thus they shape literature and the reading world to what it is today. As Dr. David Stoop quotes, “We are what we learn” and in dysfunctional families there is room for learning, improvement and destruction.
To begin, is the first factor found in literature based around dysfunctional families. Dysfunctional families add to literature because they incorporate a world view in the piece of work. This world is society or others outside of the family and how they perceive the dysfunction around them. Most times in literature, society is seen as a negative aspect that judges and has its one way of doing things. That is exactly how society can be described when looking at dysfunctional families in literature....

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...to challenge the roles of the family. Dysfunctional families, thoughts and situations exist in all societies, including our own, such as the perception of what is “the right figure” for women in today’s world. Regardless the situation, dysfunction exists and it’s whether it’s welcomes or overcame that matters. It is said that “those of us who have grown up in dysfunctional families, know that each challenge comes with new opportunities” The Good Stuff From Growing Up In a Dysfunctional Family, Karen Casey. Overall, dysfunctional families are found in literature and add a family aspect along with conflict, sympathy, and life decisions into the story line. Dysfunctional families adds importance to stories because it adds a background and follows a path of struggle and challenges that the characters follow, thus incorporating the three traits discussed in this essay.