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Family structure in modern society
Family structure in modern society
Factors that influence family structure
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When one looks at a family photo they make an interpretation on the perceived reality of smiling faces and comfortable expression. What is not captured by these constructions is the truth that is often hidden within an “ideal family”. Pictures, beautiful homes, family vacations, and status all help to paint an illusion that conceal the reality of the strain that domestic relationships face. The appearance of family identity can often seem ideal, but beyond this dimension can be a less than ideal truth. Complicated relationships between family members can often occur due to expectations and values that do not align. Parental figures establish standards regarding personal and life values. Relationships that are oppressive can express expectations …show more content…
that stem from an inability to achieve self-satisfaction. Often abusive parental figures establish grueling expectations that shape the way that adolescents express their personal identity. This type of relationship is established in Alison Bechdal’s Fun Home and Jon Krakaur’s Into the Wild. The characters that both of these narratives focus around struggle with achieving self-fulfillment because of their father’s harsh expectations. Alison in Fun Home suppresses her own identity because of her father’s internal struggle to come to terms with his own sexuality. Chris McCandless’s seeks reality in his own identity by resisting values of intimacy and success that his father uses to define self-value. Both families put on an appearance of an ideal family to construct a false illusion of satisfaction with personal identity. The expectations and illusions of identity in Fun Home and Into The Wild express the desire for truth and self-fulfillment. The controlling and oppressive relationship that Alison has with Bruce prevents her from expressing her sexual identity and coming to terms with her father’s death. As a child, Alison desires masculinity and resents her father’s feminine expectations. He often criticizes the way that she expresses her physical identity, forcing her to wear feminine clothing. This causes Alison to struggle with her own sexuality and personal truth. She interrogates the life she has constructed for herself, under Bruce’s expectations, developing an obsessive-compulsive disorder that questions the illusion that she has regarding her own identity and relationship with her father. Living a life that avoids the inconvenient truth takes a great toll on Alison’s mental health, filling her thoughts with anxiety about accepting her homosexuality and disappointing Bruce. The inability for Alison to come to terms with these facts becomes a personal conflict that is even more complicated by the death of her father. When she accepts her identity, Alison “assume[s] a cause-and-effect relationship (pg. 59)” with her sexual expression and her father committing suicide. She attributes herself as a source of disappointment because of the inability to meet her father’s expectations. In addition to this, the expectations that Bruce puts on Alison, stems from his internal struggle to express his own sexuality. In chapter four, Alison finds a picture of her father posing in a female bathing suit. The feminine desires that Bruce has are a result of his suppressed homosexuality and rejection to his own masculinity. He often uses interior design, gardening, and Alison as an outlet for his personal expression and hidden desires. This becomes burdensome to Alison as she develops the same rejection to her gendered expectations and constructs a reality to appease her father’s harshness. The parallel’s that Alison shares with Bruce makes her feel as though the life she lives is a curse that causes her father’s suicide. Bruce uses his family and home in order to appear as “an ideal husband and father (pg. 17), distracting from the reality of his sexual relationships with young men. Alison follows this illusion as she neglects the obvious evidence of her father’s true identity. Bruce rejects his homosexual desires in order to distance himself from his traumatic experience with sexual assault. He assimilates his identity as a homosexual with his status as a victim, repressing his desires to be defined by his harrowing childhood. His struggle is passed onto Alison, however by coming to terms with her own identity, she is able to become a survivor of her traumatic situation. The false illusion of happiness constructed upon Chris’s father’s expectations of material and social success cause Chris to seek a raw form of self-meaning that is achieved from nature.
In Into the Wild, Chris abandons his status as an educated, successful and wealthy individual to seek a life that he can experience “to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found (pg. 37).” He hopes to discover this real meaning by secluding himself from others and concentrating on basic needs in order to satisfy a life beyond material satisfaction. Chris’s journey echoes a rejection to the social expectations that are imposed on him by his father and society that construct an illusion of happiness around status and wealth. Chris’s father emphasize that the only way to make an impact was to “go to college… [and] get a law degree (pg. 114)”. McCandless resists this idea and wishes to make an impact in his own way, but still succumbs to his parent’s pressure to be successful in society. When Chris makes the decision to not attend law school he knew that he would be viewed as a disappointment in his father’s eyes but chooses to seek happiness that was beyond his privilege. Chris’s identity was defined by his success and status, something that his parents placedgreat pressure in achieving. In order to escape his parent’s expectations and construct his own intimate identity, Chris secludes himself in nature and pushes his limits to survive. Although this does result in Chris’s death, he is able to achieve a life that is beyond the false meaning of material and social
value. The affair that Chris’s father has with his former wife causes Chris to reject his paternal relationship and this false illusion of intimacy. When Chris discovers that his father had secretly continued a relationship with his first wife years after he was born, he feels betrayed by his father and resents him for the lies that he constructs. The deception that was established by Walt makes Chris’s “’entire childhood seem like a fiction (pg. 123)”’. In order to rid himself of this fake life, enhanced by illusion, Chris immerses himself in the the rawness and truth of nature. Chris’s grudge against his father causes him to reject all forms of intimacy by isolating himself from human contact altogether. When he succeeds in this, he comes to a discovery that he must “stop running so hard form intimacy (pg. 189)”. The betrayal that Chris felt from his father’s infidelity establishes an identity that could not appreciate community and human contact. When this was absent in Chris’s life he went through a period of self-realization in which he came to the conclusion that despite his father’s lies, he could have intimate relationships with others that were authentic. Even though he dies shortly after this realization, Chris is able to move on from the troubling relationship that he has with his father. The complicated patriarchal relationships shown in Fun Home and Into the Wild establishes an identity that attempts to make sense of the overwhelming pressures and false illusions that are constructed within an oppressive domestic environment. Both Chris and Alison have to overcome their father’s expectations in order to achieve a sense of true self. In addition to this, both were able to see through the illusions within their childhood that prevented them from coming to terms with the reality of their situation. In Fun Home, Alison was able to accept her sexual identity and realize that she was not the reason for her father’s death. Chris McCandless, in Into the Wild, developed an authentic identity that was not based upon his father’s values of materialism. He also, resolved his rejection towards intimacy and moved past the lies that his father constructed around family life. Both individuals are able to overcome the oppressive relationships with their fathers by accepting their identity and discovering the reality of each situation.
Chris McCandless was a young man who did everything in his power to try and represent that freedom he was searching for. McCandless had everything before we went out but he decided to go out and travel by choice. He was considered a selfish man because when someone offered him to help him he rejects it in a nice way since we wants to do things himself. In the book Into the wild he states that,"You don't need to worry about me. I have a college education. I'm not destitute. I'm living like this by choice."
As portrayed in the film, Into the Wild, Chris McCandless hates society. In one particular scene, Chris starts yelling about “society” and how it is bad when he is telling Wayne about his trip to Alaska. In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem, Self-Reliance, it says “Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, b...
Throughout Into the Wild, Krakauer portrays Christopher McCandless as an infallibly eager young man hoping to distance himself from the society he so obviously loathes, to "live off the land," entirely independent of a world which has "conditioned [itself] to a life of security." Chris, contrarily to this depiction, is disparagingly viewed by some as a "reckless idiot" who lacked the sense he needed to survive in the Alaskan wilderness. This derogatory assessment of Chris's mindset is representative of the society he hopes to escape and contains all the ignorance that causes him to feel this way. Nevertheless, he is misjudged by these critics, allowing Krakauer to hold the more accurate interpretation of Chris's character, his goals, and his accomplishments.
This book Into The Wild is about how a young man wants to get away from the world. He does escape from society, but ends up dying in the process. The author, Jon Krakauer, does a great job of describing Chris McCandless and his faults. Chris is an intelligent college graduate. He went on a two-year road trip and ended up in Alaska. He didn't have any contact with his parents in all of that time. Krakauer does a great job of interviewing everyone who had anything to do with McCandless from his parents, when he grew up, to the people who found his body in Alaska.
Life is a form of progress- from one stage to another, from one responsibility to another. Studying, getting good grades, and starting the family are common expectations of human life. In the novel Into the Wild, author Jon Krakauer introduced the tragic story of Christopher Johnson McCandless. After graduating from Emory University, McCandless sold of his possessions and ultimately became a wanderer. He hitchhiked to Alaska and walked into the wilderness for nearly 4 months. This journey to the 49th state proved fatal for him, and he lost his life while fulfilling his dream. After reading this novel, some readers admired the boy for his courage and noble ideas, while others fulminated that he was an idiot who perished out of arrogance and
Into the Wild, written by John Krakauer tells of a young man named Chris McCandless who 1deserted his college degree and all his worldly possessions in favor of a primitive transient life in the wilderness. Krakauer first told the story of Chris in an article in Outside Magazine, but went on to write a thorough book, which encompasses his life in the hopes to explain what caused him to venture off alone into the wild. McCandless’ story soon became a national phenomenon, and had many people questioning why a “young man from a well-to-do East Coast family [would] hitchhike to Alaska” (Krakauer i). Chris comes from an affluent household and has parents that strived to create a desirable life for him and his sister. As Chris grows up, he becomes more and more disturbed by society’s ideals and the control they have on everyday life. He made a point of spiting his parents and the lifestyle they lived. This sense of unhappiness continues to build until after Chris has graduated college and decided to leave everything behind for the Alaskan wilderness. Knowing very little about how to survive in the wild, Chris ventures off on his adventure in a state of naïveté. It is obvious that he possessed monumental potential that was wasted on romanticized ideals and a lack of wisdom. Christopher McCandless is a unique and talented young man, but his selfish and ultimately complacent attitude towards life and his successes led to his demise.
It’s not easy to build an ideal family. In the article “The American Family” by Stephanie Coontz, she argued that during this century families succeed more when they discuss problems openly, and when social institutions are flexible in meeting families’ needs. When women have more choices to make their own decisions. She also argued that to have an ideal family women can expect a lot from men especially when it comes to his involvement in the house. Raymond Carver, the author of “Where He Was: Memories of My Father”, argued how his upbringing and lack of social institutions prevented him from building an ideal family. He showed the readers that his mother hide all the problems instead of solving them. She also didn’t have any choice but to stay with his drunk father, who was barely involved in the house. Carvers’ memoir is relevant to Coontz argument about what is needed to have an ideal family.
The book Into The Wild, written by Jon Krakauer, tells the story of Chris McCandless a young man who abandoned his life in search of something more meaningful than a materialistic society. In 1992 Chris gave his $ 25,000 savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, and burned all of his money to chase his dream. Chris’s legacy was to live in simplicity, to find his purpose, and to chase his dreams.
Into the wild is a non-fiction book which expanded from the nine-thousand-word article by Jon Krakauer. This article ran in the January 1993 issue of the magazine Outside. Jon Krakauer was very much drawn toward the tale of McCandless and decided to write his story. He spent more than a year tracking down the details of the boy’s tramp. Then he used matter-of-fact tones to narrate what he chased on the path about the boy. The framework presented in this book can be separated into three parts: (1) retracing, including the interview with most of the important people who once kept company with Chris; (2) wildness, presenting mails generated from readers and several idealists that were in the similar situation with Chris; (3) affection, including the memory of parents, sister and friends.
John Karkauer novel, Into the Wild displays a true life story about a young man by the name of Christopher McCandless, who creates a new life for himself by leaving civilization to live in the wilderness. The story displays how Christopher develops and matures throughout the story by prevailing harsh predicaments and learning valuable lessons on the way. Christopher’s character evolves by comprehending several new lessons and such as finding true pleasure, disregarding other people’s judgments, as well as realizing that material things are just material things and nothing else. All through the story, Christopher struggles to discover the true satisfaction in his life. Christopher struggles to choose what makes him truthfully content over what makes his parents glad. Christopher’s parents want him to attend law school, despite the fact that he wants to follow his passion to live in the northern wild. Christopher’s letter to his sister Carine says, “or that they think I’d actually let them pay for my law school if I was going to go….” (Krakauer.pg21). According to this quote it can be known that Christopher does not really feel any pleasure or happiness in wanting to go to law school. He finds his satisfaction with life on the road and experiences this because life on the road gives him endless possibilities and adventures every day. Christopher’s letter to Ron Franz goes as, “I’d like to repeat the advice I gave you before, in that I think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin in boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt……Don’t settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon.”(Krakaur.pg56-57). The letter details the benefits of living a life in the wild such as the new adventures you face every day. Chris feels what actually happiness is, when he meets face to face with the wild. As he experiences the northern wild, he learns that true happiness doesn’t come from one source, but from various foundations in a person’s life. Chris penned a brief note, which says, “I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL!”(Krakauer.pg199) The brief note shows that even though Chris was on the edge of death, he was finally happy with his life.
In the story “ Into The Wild “ the main character, Christopher Mccandless is shown to be a normal tennager ready to go into college and start his own life just like any of us. What we didn't know is that this would begin into world of emotions following up to what would lead to his death. In this story chris shows many feeling towards his parents but one of the biggest and strongest feelings would be anger. He always disliked his parents for having a certain point of view on our society and thinking about themselves before others, which to chris was one of the biggest factor in his view of
“Into The Wild” by John Krakauer is a non-fiction biographical novel which is based on the life of a young man, Christopher McCandless. Many readers view Christopher’s journey as an escape from his family and his old life. The setting of a book often has a significant impact on the story itself. The various settings in the book contribute to the main characters’ actions and to the theme as a whole. This can be proven by examining the impact the setting has on the theme of young manhood, the theme of survival and the theme of independent happiness.
Into the Wild, a novel written by Jon Krakauer, as well as a film directed by Sean Penn, talks about Chris McCandless, a young individual who sets out on a journey throughout the Western United States, isolating himself from society, and more importantly, his family. During his travels, he meets a lot of different people, that in a way, change his ways about how he sees the world. There are many characteristics to describe McCandless, such as “nave”, “adventurous”, and “independent”. In the book, Krakauer described McCandless as “intelligent”, using parts in his book that show McCandless being “intelligent”. While Krakauer thinks of McCandless as being “intelligent”, Penn thinks of McCandless as a more “saint” type of person.
...can be a life-changing experience. McCandless entered the wild as an overly confident hitchhiker and left as a self-accepting and humble man. He thought that human relationships were futile, he was impervious to materialism, and that he could understand nature on a scientific level. However, McCandless left the wild with a newfound appreciation for humanity, some clarity on his purpose in life, and the ability to create his own legacy. Many people finish reading Into the Wild and form negative opinions about McCandless’ reckless behavior. However, it is important to focus on how being in the wild brought McCandless closer to understanding himself. Into the Wild should motivate humans to participate in explore the wilderness to discover the true meaning of life.
Some families may seem more civil or functional than others, but that does not mean families who struggle do not have personal values that are less important. One of the most crucial things family members should provide for each other is love. A popular phrase used to demonstrate the power of love is “motherly love”. The reason being, that more often than not a mother infinitely sacrifices for her children for nothing in return. Without love, there would be no bonds, and with no bonds there would be no real relationships that makes up a family. Moreover, we are not forced to love everyone and sadly love is not always present in the family setting, but something that should always be present and is the key factor in the functioning of a family is respect. It does not matter if it is respect between spouses, siblings, or children and parents; everyone deserves respect. Respect is a demonstration of finding someone or something valuable, which obviously ties directly into family