The novel, The Dinner, by Herman Koch, focuses on two couples out to dinner as they discuss some heinous crime that both of their kids took part in. Serge and Babette’s son, Rick, and Paul and Claire’s son, Michel, have killed an elderly homeless woman. Through subtle reactions and deceptive remarks, The Dinner portrays multiple social issues and explores the character’s varying opinions on the matters. Some examples include mental illness, the adoption of a child from another culture, the truth behind fame, teens’ rights to privacy, capital punishment, sibling rivalry and helicopter parenting. Overall, the difficulty of teen violence and parenting are the most explored in this novel. There are two specific perspectives that Koch delves into …show more content…
1) the young adults, at 15, were old enough to understand what they were doing and should thus face the consequences, and 2) the children were too you and to have had a complete understanding of what was going on, making their actions forgivable. The author presents these two opposing views through the two very different brothers sitting at the table. The first, more popular, perspective is that of Serge Lohman’s. The reader may find it surprising that the politician is the one who believes the children should receive proper consequences for their actions, regardless of public opinion and the effect it could have on his campaign. From the beginning of the conversation, Serge takes the outlook that the incident regarding their sons and the old woman was a “murder” (Koch ) and that the victim was not to blame for anything. In fact, Serge thinks the kids are grown enough to understand what they did was wrong -as he frequently mentions the toll the guilt is taking on his son and himself- and consequently considers them responsible for their actions. Serge says that “from the very start [he had] tried to see this separately from [his] own political future, … To [him] the most important thing is Rick’s future.” (Koch 230). And his concern for Rick’s future specifically stems from Rick’s emotional state at home. Serge believes that the resources that are available during and after any punishment would benefit both the children’s mental health. In the real world, a mother sharing a similar experience as these couples shares Serge’s point of view. Tristen Kurilla, 10 years old at the time, was “charged as an adult with criminal homicide for the murder of 90-year-old Helen Novak”. His mother, Martha Virbitsky,” believes he is being treated well at the county prison”. Moreover, she was the one who turned him initially and she actually withdrew her request for his bail as she believed the time in custody was good for him and the family. The comments under the article were generally in agreement with the mother’s choice. These people and Serge Lohman all believe that murder is murder. These kids purposely tried to hurt other people, intending to kill or not, and the best place for them to go is jail or some type of juvenile detainment where they can receive the help they need. Contrastingly, Serge Lohman’s brother and the narrator of the story, Paul Lohman, believes that the kids made a mistake and that the woman they had murdered was just nuisance anyways.
She was no one of consequence. Paul and his wife Clair do not think the boys should face any consequences for their actions. Furthermore, the couple does not see anything wrong with what the boys did at all. Also, when first exposing the reader to how the event unfolded Paul encouraged the reader to sympathize with their sons. He says the woman smelt horrible and that the “stench is significant. A person who stinks cannot count on much sympathy. … That is no excuse for what happened, but it would also not be right to simply omit it.” (Koch 121). Paul deliberately tries to vilify the homeless woman due to her most obvious fault –her smell- in order to paint her as the villain. Of course, he admits that it is no excuse for what happened, but he strongly believes that it impacted their attitudes towards her and thus escalated the situation. Then at the dinner, Claire is horrified when Serge refers to the event as a “murder” and goes on to explain that the parents can help the boys with whatever trauma they are facing. She says that “in a few months, maybe even a few weeks, everything may have changed. [The families] can calmly discuss it then” (Koch 239). Claire and Paul are both suggesting that Rick and Michel should not face any punishment as they were too young to fully understand what they were doing. Also, any help they need coping with what happened can be offered by the families alone. The writers of “Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach” agree with this sentiment, saying that “Much adolescent involvement in criminal activity is part of the normal developmental process of identity formation and most adolescents will mature out of these tendencies”. Furtherly, about Tristan Kurilla’s aforementioned trial, Marsha Levick, chief counsel of the Juvenile Law Center in
Philadelphia says “it's shocking that [Kurilla] suddenly turned into an adult because of conduct that he engaged in.” Both of these sources find it unfair to see the actions of these children as anything other than young people in need of stimulation. The lack of experience in the real world and development of the brain makes it impossible to judge a young person.
31 percent of children under 18 only live with one parent in America today. In Confetti Girl and Tortilla Sun, both kids are living with a single parent. In both stories, the parent and their kid do not understand each other's wants and needs. The parents both push interests on their kids and make decisions for them. This is most likely due t their lack of communication. In the stories Confetti Girl and Tortilla Sun, the authors use different points of view to create tension between the single parent and their kid when they are trying to connect.
Alan Sitomer’s newest fast paced novel Homeboyz is a hardcore suspense story that will immediately put readers on the edge and leave them breathless in the end. Sitomer’s character, Teddy ‘T-Bear’ Anderson is an aloof seventeen year old that doesn’t care for anything other than to avenge his innocent fourteen year old sister Tina’s death, by targeting the infamous gang members of his city. As Teddy’s family mourns and his mother falls into a deep depression, his father Mr. Anderson, also known as Pops attempts to run the dysfunctional ailing household and his linen delivery company by himself. While Teddy observes his family, his desire to seek revenge grows stronger each day until he finally uses his extraordinary visionary skills to come up with a plan.
Conflict between the main characters in fictional stories can be so thick, you need a razor-sharp knife to cut it; that is definitely the case in the two literary texts I recently analyzed titled “Confetti Girl” by Diana Lopez and “Tortilla Sun” by Jennifer Cervantes. In the first text, tensions mount when a social butterfly of a teenage girl and her oblivious father lock horns over the subject of homework. In the second passage, drama runs high when a lonely child and her career-driven mother battle over the concept of spending the summer apart. Unfortunately, by the end of both excerpts, the relationships of these characters seem damaged beyond repair due to their differing points of view - the children end up locked behind their barrier-like
As a teenager, one tends to rebel against one’s parents. Theresa, in “Butcher Rogaum’s Door” by Theodore Dreiser, is no different from any other adolescent in the world. She believes that she is ready to venture out into the dangerous streets of the Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan late into the night. After all, Theresa is turning eighteen and facing all the budding sexual desires of womanhood and the grand adventures that the city can offer her. Butcher Rogaum, Theresa’s father, certainly feels differently about this, reasoning that Theresa is still an adolescent and still living in his household. The naturally conflicting relationship and realistic portrayal of a naïve girl and her overbearing German father in “Butcher Rogaum’s Door”, show how difficult generational gaps can be.
On an everyday basis teens all around the world fight and disagree with their parents. In the passages Confetti Girl and Tortilla Sun this very thing is clearly demonstrated. Both stories feature two teenage girls that have lost one of their parents. They both now face the daily struggle of agreeing and relating to their remaining parent. In Confetti Girl, the narrator is constantly overlooked and out shadowed by her father’s favorite thing, books and literacy.
A Child Called “It” is a story based on a real life little boy’s tribulations with his mothers shocking abuse. The first part of Dave's life was idyllic in his memory--he says his family was "the Brady Bunch"--a loving mother and father with whom he enjoyed wonderful holidays and a happy trip to the Russian River. Everyone on the outside thought that David’s family was perfect. No one in their neighborhood would have suspected anything was wrong. All that changed when Dave was in first grade. For no known reason, his mother singled him out from his siblings and began abusing him. The abuse began relatively mildly. When he and his brothers did something wrong, Dave was the one to receive punishment--at first simply banishment to the corner of a bedroom. Then, his mother began spending her days watching TV and drinking beer. Easily irritated, she yelled at Dave for the slightest reason, or sometimes for no reason at all. Soon, instead of making him go down to the basement, Mrs. Pelzer smashed Dave's face against the mirror, then made him repeat, over and over, "I'm a bad boy! I'm a bad boy!" He was forced to stand for hours staring into that mirror. Dave's father soon joined The Mother, as David called her, in her drinking. He, too, knew David was a "good boy." He did not join in the abuse, but he did not to stop it, either. David was treated like a slave in his own home. His mother treated him as if he wasn’t even a member of the family like a nobody or an “It”. She first referred to him as, “The Boy, then it quickly changed to It”. Nobody at his school liked him, they called him "Pelzer Smelzer" because his mom never washed his clothes and made him wear the same thing every day. After school, o...
Coming off the death of his father, his best friend, and his cousin, he must fight a constant battle against negative community influences such as guns, drugs, lack of opportunity, and cultural stereotypes. On the ruff streets of southeast Fresno, Eddie is just trying to get by. All he wants is to forget his violent past, find and hold down a job, and walk the right path, But after his cousin's murder, Eddie finds himself slowly drawn back into the cycle of violence and going against the scrim of a city sweltering in the grip of poverty, crime, and unfulfilled dreams, this is a story of a young man struggling to survive in a world spiraling out of control. Fresno is the city where the novel materializes.
novel The Night, a boy killed his father over bread for his own survival. In the novel, a
Through her emotional breakdowns and extensive grief, Ruth Fowler provokes her husband into committing homicide in order to appease her. During the weeks after the death of their son, Matt Fowler sees the pain and torment his wife goes through dealing with the fact that their son’s killer still walked the streets not persecuted for his crime. When talking to his friend Willis Trottier about his family after a night of poker, Matt Fowlers affirms, “She can’t even go out for cigarettes and aspirin. It’s killing her. […] Every day since he got out. I didn’t think about bail. I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about him for years. She sees him all the time. It makes her cry” (Dubus 2). In Matt Fowler’s recount, he describes his wife as being perpetually afflicted by the presence of their son’s killer, and he even goes further to claim that Richard Strout’s existence is resulting in the deterioration of Ruth Fowler’s health and wellbeing. Although it is too late for Matt Fowler to protect his own son, he feels obligated to guard his wife from the suffering inflicted by presence of their son’s murderer. Because of this marital responsibility brought about by Ruth Fowler’s teary performances, Matt Fowler kills Richard Strout in an effort to end his wife’s emo...
Dave Pelzer’s book “A Child Called ‘It’” told his story of growing up in an abusive household. Pelzer’s family at first was just like any other, his parents loved each other and their children and they would do many fun activities together. As time progressed a change happened and his mother began to always punish Pelzer rather than any of the other children. The small punishments soon began to grow and become more and more serious. Soon, Dave’s father and siblings could not help him out of fear that their mother and wife would turn on them. Dave was banished to the garage where he would have to sit at the bottom of the stairs waiting until his mother called him to do his chores. Usually Pelzer would be starved for very long periods of time
Family relationships are our first introduction to living with other people. In the novel, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Billy Lynne is part of a small family that lives in Stovall, Texas. He lived with his mother, father, and two sisters. Like most families they were not without drama and were as dysfunctionally close as some families. Billy’s sister, Kathryn states, “Some days I think I am living in a bad country song.” [79] Kathryn is referring to the father’s infidelity and their mother’s crass attitude toward the now disabled provider. A sentiment that that they all share, in some small way in their hearts, but they still loved each other. This was evident through the chapter entitled: “Bully of the Heart.”[74] The scene that was described when Billy arrived for his short visit home was a hallmark moment for the family. The tears and hugs mixed with laught...
After hearing a brief description of the story you might think that there aren’t many good things about they story. However, this is false, there are many good things in this book that makes it a good read. First being that it is a very intriguing book. This is good for teenage readers because often times they don’t willingly want to read, and this story will force the teenage or any reader to continue the book and continue reading the series. Secondly, this is a “good” book because it has a good balance of violence. This is a good thing because it provides readers with an exciting read. We hear and even see violence in our everyday life and I believe that it is something teenagers should be exposed to. This book gives children an insig...
Trimalchio hosts’ a farewell dinner which is a dinner given to gladiators who were about to face wild beasts in the arena. Trimalchio is a Semitic name based on the word for “prince” and he is a high living individual. However, a well-born Roman reader would not approve of his attitudes and behavior. You get a good sense of what Trimalchio is like early on in the story when he is in the middle of talking to Menelaus and snaps his fingers for a slave to bring him a pot. When the slave brings the pot to Trimalchio he peed in it, asked for water and then used the slave’s hair to dry his hands. (19) Trimalchio had many slaves, some of their jobs were miniscule(petty) that it consisted of them standing near the dining room door and saying “right feet first!” as people enter. Not only do his slaves have (silly) jobs, they are repremended for the littlest of things. When a slave dropped a cup by mistake at dinner Trimalchio responded by saying “go kill yourself, you useless piece of trash.” (37) A well-born Roman wouldn’t appreciate how Trimalchio treats people, it is puzzling he treats them so poorly since he was once a slave himself.
The premise of Unwind is a thrill to any teenager who has ever either defied an authority, like Connor, or has ever felt unwanted, such as Risa. As a thirteen-year-old who had dabbled in a little of both from time to time, Unwind was a welcome glimpse into my own subconscious and a realization at how privileged my life has been. The world this novel constructs is a society quite similar to our own, yet its morals have been contaminated: certain lives are considered m...
A parental figure has the ability to create a significant impact on the way their child will act in certain situations and where their child will end up in life. A parent's responsibility is to be a positive example and make sure the child has everything needed to live a healthy life. In The Dinner by Herman Koch, Paul does not necessarily make the most responsible choices for the betterment of himself as a father and his son Michel. Paul has showed his level of responsibility by allowing his son to witness him do violent things, visibly using various coping mechanisms to deal with certain situation, and his choosing to have a child with Claire despite her sociopathic tendencies.