Nick Persons

In January 2005, a film was released, called “Are We There Yet?,” that depicted the struggles of a single man trying to be accepted by the woman he adores children. Throughout the movie, one may watch as the protagonist Nick Persons and two children, Kevin and Lindsey, constantly experience tensions, due to the fact that Kevin and Lindsey do not want their mother to bring a new man into her life. As the movie begins, Nick Persons is introduced as a young bachelor who is focused on the growth of his business and a person who has little interest in starting a family. One day while at work, Nick sees Suzanne, the woman of his dreams, although she has two children, a sight which is very repelling to Nick. Because he is fond of her, he becomes willing

The first significant scene in the film is when Nick drops Suzanne at the airport so that she can catch a flight to Vancouver. In this scene, one learns, from a phone call, that Suzanne has recently come out of a divorce and that her ex-husband fails to spend time with their children. From this information, one may infer that Suzanne and her children maintain a relationship that Cherlin considers to be a “public family” (Cherlin 14). This is because Suzanne is “a single adult working to take care of her two dependents,” Lindsey and Kevin (Cherlin 13). Furthermore, Suzanne’s the ex-husband cannot pick up the kids and drop them to the airport. She then asks Nick to take her home, because if not, there will be no one available to watch Lindsey and Kevin. Because of this, she becomes very troubled due to the fact that she may lose her job if she does not make the flight and attend her business meeting. Then, attempting to take over the vacant father roll, Nick volunteers to pick up the kids and drop them off. Here, one may come to realize that Suzanne is suffering from what Cherlin calls a “role overload” (Cherlin 258). She is in “a state of having to many roles,” because she is trying to be the worker, parent and caregiver when she is not in a state of accomplishing such (Cherlin 258). Although, Suzanne is benefiting from having so many roles, because according to Cherlin, “multiple roles may also increase one’s social network and therefore provide more opportunities for social support” (Cherlin 258). Suzanne is attempting to sustain more than one role may have been the reason why she met Nick, who luckily has been helping her recently with travels. Moreover, when Nick arrives at their home, Lindsey and Kevin give Nick dirty looks and make it difficult to cooperate with him. While at the home, the children constantly compare Nick to Suzanne’s previous male