The Best Family is one that can be Chosen. Family is the closest relationship of a person’s life, and everyone is deserving of that kind of bond. This is evidently displayed in the family dynamics from the play Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth by Drew Hayden Taylor. It explores complicated family dynamics with the main characters Janice and Barb having very opposing views about what family means. This affects their bond and how they connect with others. Family is a subjective construct that has more positive outcomes when individuals choose it for themselves. Those that choose only biological families may find themselves all alone when they lose relatives, not everyone has blood relatives, and those that do have family may find themselves in …show more content…
Barb blames Janice for all the problems in their family, making her guilty. One of the ways that Barb achieves this is by accusing Janice of killing their biological mother. “You killed her, you know? As sure as you put a gun against her head. She died because of you” [. . .] “When you left, you took her spirit, her will to live, with you. She died long before last Tuesday. It just took a while for her body to catch up” (2.2). Barb is putting the blame for Anne’s death on Janice by how she reacted to meeting Anne for the first time. Janice was not ready for her biological family all at once, it was too much to process. Meanwhile, Barb and Anne had much higher expectations of Janice, thinking that she would love them as much as they loved and idolized her. When their unrealistic expectations were not met, it tore their family even more. Sometimes biological families come with a lot of negative experiences, which can push people away. Having a family should be a positive experience, which Janice has with her adopted family, but the negativity and blame from her biological family makes her not want to engage with
Family as defined by Webster’s College Dictionary can be one of many different people. Family can be your parents, spouse, children, brother, sister, grandmother, uncle, any blood relative, or even people who are not blood related that share that common bond (Webster 475). My definition of family is similar to Webster’s, but I feel that there is more to it than just being a blood relative or close friend. A person’s actions, beliefs, and morals play a major role in deciding who makes it into that “family” group. Family becomes more of an idea or feeling, like love or hate, than just who a person is or where they fall in your family tree. There have been people that I have considered closer than family just by their actions, even though they were nowhere near related to me. Fortunately, I have not had any blood relation family members make me wish they were not in my “family” (maybe my older sister when we were younger, but that doesn’t count). While reading from Children and Families in our text, I came across many readings that I feel were inspired in many different ways by what the author believed was “family.” There were two readings that jumped out at me and reminded me of my view of how a family should be in their interactions with each other. They were the short story “Flight” by Doris Lessing and the poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes. There was also one writing that I read that went against my idea of family and made me happy that this wasn’t the way that my family acted as I grew up, that was “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid. And while some authors lean their writing one direction or another, Adrienn...
Family, and its definition, is universal, it describes a union, particularly with parents and children. One could define Family as a group of people who are related to each other, a person’s children, and a group of related people who lived in the past. In reality, Family has a profound meaning, unique to every household and family. On a personal note, family is defined as a foundation of love, support, and strength.
Have you ever stopped and thought about what everybody in the world has in common? Family is a very common thing. It could just be a group of people that you care about and love or it could just be a person. Family is always together and family never falls apart. Family is that one group that you love and worry about and it can be that one person. In the book The Outsiders by S.E Hinton family is a very important thing. Family is the best blessing to have. The theme S.E Hinton talks about is family always sticks together.
In general knowledge, a family is a group consisting of blood relatives, living together as a unit. However, family has a much deeper meaning to me. Growing up in such a small Haitian community, I was always very close to all of my relatives, whether it was my siblings, cousins or aunts and uncles. I couldn’t imagine a world without them: they are the people who made me who I am today.
You cannot change them, you cannot pick them, everyone has one and for many it is a very important part of their life. Many people have strong family ties. Nothing effects a child 's life more than family. A child 's values, their first moments of life, their first relationships. With a relationship like this, it leads people to do things they normally wouldn 't do. They make sacrifices that would be hard to explain if you did not understand the importance of family. We are specifically talking about the dynamic between two people like mother and daughter, or between two brothers. These relationships develop from growing up with the support, connection, and care that most families have. Louise Erdrich 's “The Red Convertible” highlights the
According to Collins, Jordan and Coleman (2013), the family is the smallest and primary unit of society. Close relationships within the unit are developed through shared activities over a prolonged period of time. Furthermore, the family can be defined as “those persons who are biologically and/or psychologically related whom historical, emotional, or economic bonds connect and who perceive themselves as a part of a household” (Gladding, 2002, p.6). Within the family, each member influences each other in an interactive and circular way (Gladding, 2002). The followings are different types of families, which have been recognised in the
A family might include anyone related by blood or by adoption such as: step parents, grandparents acting as parents, and even brothers and sisters sharing the same household. However, worldwide “the family is regarded as the most ba...
The idea of family is different from person to person. Regardless of the differences, everyone’s family is unique and special in their own way. No one can judge or discriminate against people for their meaning and interpretation of what a family looks like. For example, family may have two parents; one parent; or no parents (since these are brief phrases, semi-colons shouldn't be used). The variation and differences between families makes culture and society so diverse. Family does not have limitations or boundaries (true). As long as the definition of family contains the qualities of unconditional love, and endless support, help, and guidance; all different families (awk) will be able to succeed and achieve a greater feeling of happiness and a sense of belonging and acceptance.
Out of the numerous commodities and resources that are scarce on the planet in which we inhabit a family, or even a family system, can never be parallel to even an iota of them. This is due to the fact that everyone, no matter what age at what time period of their life, has a family. That family may not be the cookie cutter family that society imposes on the media world. People develop without knowing their family, people create new families of their own, or they can even find something or someone to call family because of this family will never be scarce. Family is an objective concept to every single person and the definition varies significantly from being as simple as the smallest of toys to as complex as a group of people interconnected
“A family can be defined as a set of people related by blood, marriage or in some other agreed upon relationship, or adoption, who share primary responsibility for reproduction and caring for member of society". (Schaefer, 2009, p. 288) This leads to a wide open range of interpretation on the exact definition of how a family is truly made up. Depending on your culture, religion, or geographical location a family may represent and be comprised of many different ideals and social norms. There are many theoretical perspectives that have their own interpretations on the subject of what a family is and how it is perceived. I will attempt to expound on three of these perspectives; Functionalism, Conflict, and Interactionalism.
Family is defined as “a group of people related to each other. Although, family isn’t necessarily based on who you’re blood related to, nor who you’ve known the longest, but by who you can count on and who you love unconditionally. From the people you’ve come to know for years and even the people you’ve known for a few months, the impact that those individuals can make in your life can change your whole perspective on what a real family is. This is created by the respect and bond between people. Meeting new people is a step forward to building a family, for me, being apart of the band has made an enormous impact on who I am today.
What is a family? A family is two or more people consider themselves to be blood related, or related by marriage, or adoption. Our families are who we love. We as families look different in so many ways. A family’s caregiving unit might have a couple, a mother, a father, and children. A family could also be a single parent and child, a group of siblings, a small or large group of friends. A family defines itself in many different ways. Families are the foundation of how our society and how it works. It is how we come into the world and nurtured and given the tools that we need to go out into our world. We are both capable and healthy or not our families influence our lives either in a good way or a bad way. While families
In this discussion, I will be explaining how I define family. I will also include my immediate and extended family. I will also describe what family means to me, how mine differs from other families in my neighborhood, and also how they are similar. I will also describe my family’s ethnicity and how it may affect any of my family’s health. To me, a family is a group of people that are brought together by blood, adoption, or marriage.
Family is arguably the most important social institution in an individual's life. A family is defined as a group of individuals that are related through blood ties, adoption or marriage, that form an economic unit, where the adult members are responsible
Families provide people with an atmosphere in which to live, grow, and develop. A family culture is established by the parents and instilled in the children during their upbringing. A healthy family is a family which follows a set of strong morals, stays loyal to one another, cooperates, and works together to avoid conflict. An environment where there is openness amongst family members is ideal because minds that are open are more susceptible to avoiding conflict than minds that are closed. If conflict gets the best of a family, it has the potential to increase hostility and create remoteness between family members, however, if a family resolves conflict, it can strengthen and enforce the family relationships.