There are several examples in A Thousand Splendid Suns of how parenting affects the characters in the novel. The way the parents treat each of their children and their views that they obtain play a vital role in how the children in the book develop. There are obvious reflections of the parents in the characters that you can see throughout the course of this novel. The way a parent treats their child and the rest of their children will affect how that child views them. There are evident examples of this in the novel. The way Nana treats Mariam very clearly affects the way she feels about her as well as the contrast of the relationship between her and her father Jalil. In the beginning of the novel in the first chapter it tells about how Mariam …show more content…
In the second part of the novel it explains the story of Laila and her family. Laila’s mother does not seem to be bothered with her much. It tells about how she forgot to pick her up from school one day and a couple of boys squirted her with a toy gun filled with pee. Laila comes home and she wakes her mother up and tells her what has happened, she barely seems worried. This happens often in parenting. A lot of times parents can be swamped with things in their own lives that they can forget about things that go on in their children’s lives. This incident angered Laila as she thought about it, “Of course, it wouldn't have happened if Mammy had shown up like she was supposed to either. Sometimes Laila wondered why Mammy had even bothered having her. People, she believed now, shouldn't be allowed to have new children if they'd already given away all their love to their old ones. It wasn't fair. A fit of anger claimed her.” (Hosseini, 118-119) Mammy always seemed distant to Laila and Laila always ponders this. She thought about how her mother and father fought and how her mother might love her brothers more than she loves her. Then the incident happens and she is now almost certain that she does. Her brothers are killed in war and her mother becomes depressed. This breaks the family and now Laila is even more distant from her mother. Things like this can cause devastation to a family and it can make things different between them, just as it is in Laila’s family. Laila remembers what it was like to have the family happy and all enjoying each other’s company, “Laila's favorite part of Mammy's good days was when Babi came home, when she and Mammy looked up from the board and grinned at him with brown teeth. A gust of contentment puffed through the room then, and Laila caught a momentary glimpse of the tenderness, the romance, that had once bound her parents back when this house had been crowded and
The children also argue with their mother often. The children think that their mother, with no doubt, will be perfect. They idealize their mothers as angel who will save them from all their problems, which the mothers actually never do. The children get angry at their false hopes and realize that their mothers aren’t going to...
The chapter “A Fathers Influence” is constructed with several techniques including selection of detail, choice of language, characterization, structure and writers point of view to reveal Blackburn’s values of social acceptance, parenting, family love, and a father’s influence. Consequently revealing her attitude that a child’s upbringing and there parents influence alter the characterization of a child significantly.
In a normal functioning family, both parent and child care for and love one another, and display these feelings. A parent is required to nurture his or her child and assure that the child feels loved by spending time together, and by giving the child sufficient attention. However, there are often times when a parent is unable to fulfill these requirements, which can ultimately have damaging effects on the child. A child who is neglected by his or her parents “perceives the world as a hostile and uncaring place. In addition to this negative perception of the world, the neglect a child faces affects later interaction with his or her peers, prompting the child to become anxious and overly withdrawn” (Goldman). This neglectful type of parenting proves to be a pattern in the novel Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, as the main characters, Jimmy, Crake, and Oryx are crucially affected by their parents’ choices and are unjustly abandoned by them. In this novel, the neglect of parents, especially mothers, is clearly reflected in the behaviours of the three main characters.
Changes will come and go in the world, but family will be steadfast. There are many things that change throughout People of the Book, but family is a constant. No matter what part of the book you are reading it will most likely tie in with family somehow, whether it is positive or negative. The three families that have the most influence on the reader during the book are Ozren and Alia, Isak and Ina, and Lola and the Kamals. These characters are all influenced greatly by their families during the story. Here is how family largely impacted these small characters.
Thesis : Throughout the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, English upper class families were focused upon shaping their children into fine adults often through the use of education, but as time past their methods of molding their children was shifted from the use of violence to the use of compassion.
Looking back on the death of Larissa’s son, Zebedee Breeze, Lorraine examines Larissa’s response to the passing of her child. Lorraine says, “I never saw her cry that day or any other. She never mentioned her sons.” (Senior 311). This statement from Lorraine shows how even though Larissa was devastated by the news of her son’s passing, she had to keep going. Women in Larissa’s position did not have the luxury of stopping everything to grieve. While someone in Lorraine’s position could take time to grieve and recover from the loss of a loved one, Larissa was expected to keep working despite the grief she felt. One of the saddest things about Zebedee’s passing, was that Larissa had to leave him and was not able to stay with her family because she had to take care of other families. Not only did Larissa have the strength to move on and keep working after her son’s passing, Larissa and other women like her also had no choice but to leave their families in order to find a way to support them. As a child, Lorraine did not understand the strength Larissa must have had to leave her family to take care of someone else’s
The characters of Nana and Mariam show the archetype of a mother by sacrificing to make their children’s life better. Towards the beginning of the book Nana describes Mariam’s birth to Mariam and mentions, “ I cut the chord between us myself. That’s why I had a knife.”(11). As Nana mentioned she sacrificed throughout her pregnancy though the pain and separated the umbilical chord herself because she wanted her child to have the best chance that she could. She also mentions the knife, which could have been use to kill the baby, similar to what Laila almost did with the rusty bicycle spoke. In addition, the knife could have been used to kill herself to end her suffering. Nevertheless, Nana does not carry out this plan and instead she decides to give up her feelings for the child’s. Mariam too goes through moments where sacrifice is necessary. For instance, when the drought hit and Rahseed looses his shoe store she realizes that in order for her family to survive she must ask Jalil, her father, for money. In order to contact her father she travels in the hot sun, calls the mayor, and says, “I know you have important things to tend to, but it is life and death”(310). Mariam swallows her pride and begins to realize her negative reaction towards her father w...
There has been much debate about the parenting style called “Free Range parenting.” It allows children to make decisions with minimal parental interference. There were two different articles I read “Kids’ Solo Playtime Unleashes ‘Free-Range’ Parenting Debate”, written by Jennifer Ludden and published February 18th, 2015 and “Maryland family under investigation for letting their kid’s walk home alone.” I do not agree with either of these two articles and do not agree with this parenting style.
To be able to remain tough during troublesome settings, one must look at the positive aspects it will bring to the future. Nana, Mariam's mother, had no help in her life. Jalil expected her to remain hidden in the shack given to her so that she could live out of town; of site. When Nana “ gave birth to Mariam, no one came to help” (11). Nana was left to sum up all the strength needed to care for her child all alone. By reason of Jalil’s lack of interest in his daughter, Nana has to find ways to answer her daughters question’s about her father's absence, and find the courage to tell her daughter that her father feel’s that he has better things to worry about. Nana teaches Mariam that a woman's purpose in life is to “endure,” because “it’s all [they] have” (19). The lack of aid in their life leaves them with no one to care for them besides each other. By informing Mariam that they have to tolerate uncommon, it shows her that life will not be easy,that they will have to sacrifice for their own prosperity, but they are strong. Nana is forced to sacrifice her private well being because she is needed to care for her daughter, and keep her from getting hurt by Jalil; like she had. Without people like Nana who go through so much, and not to mention give up so much, children would be able to mature to their full potential. Many children like Mariam for instance would be deprived of the
She immediately went into shock and lost memory of where she was or what had happened for three entire days. When I read this, it made me want to cry. I cannot imagine my mother and sister being executed by the government for doing absolutely nothing wrong. This situation is emotional to anybody who has even a sliver of a heart. Luong later said that “Now it is all real. How I no longer have to pretend to be an orphan.” (pg. 164) This part in the book best shows the main message because it is the perfect example that life is not fair all the
She believes that a child’s feeling and personal goals is locked away, and instead is replaced with their parent’s expectations and desires. The child soon begins to develop narcissistic traits, in which the parent should allow the child to express feelings such as jealously and anger. In the novel Miller (1996) states “he develops something the mother needs…but it nevertheless may prevent him, throughout his life, from being himself” (p. 34). Allowing children to experience feeling such as anger and jealously provides an understanding on the child is not always perfect. However narcissistic disturbance occurs when a parent projects their own narcissistic desires onto their child, unfortunately suppressing their desires and acquiring their parents. Incidentally several students from Princeton University conducted a research in order demonstrate how narcissism is cultivated by the parents’ overvaluation and parental warmth. Eddie Mrummelman and colleagues (2014) stated, “When parents overvalue their child, they see their child as “God’s gift to man”…children might internalize the belief that they are special individuals who are entitled to privileges” (p 2). The article suggested that parents, who prevent their child from experiencing failure, encourage narcissistic attitudes. The important implication from this study demonstrates how a parent can overly evaluate their child’s
Caldwell, Tracy M. “The Negative Effects Of Parent And Child Conflict.” Literary Theme: The Negative Effects Of Parent & Child Conflict (2006): 1-5. Literary Reference Center. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.
German social psychologist Erich Fromm once wrote about parental love, “[A child] needs mother’s unconditional love and care physiologically as well as psychically. Father’s love [is] guided by principles and expectations; [is] patient and tolerant, rather than threatening and authoritarian”. Through this quote, he states that without a parent’s love, a child will not receive the correct nurturing process naturally. There is no mother to love and care for them unconditionally; no father to provide as a model for the child to work after. Eventually, the child will have no other choice than to choose a parent figure to mirror. In the literary fiction Hard Times, Charles Dickens exemplifies this case through the love between Louisa, Sissy, and
In America, there are many kinds of families. I decided to research parenting in the case that the Grandparent is a main caregiver. I also want to contrast the difference that parents have being a first-time parent, versus a being a parent as a grandparent. The book says, “In general, skipped-generation families have several strikes against them” but also says, “[the] discussion of grandparents who live with their grandchildren should not obscure the general fact that most grandparents enjoy their role…” (Berger, 486). With this, I am going to interview my sixty-seven-year-old grandma, she was forty-six when I was born and became a primary caregiver for me alongside my dad. I think that my grandma is going to say that she is glad that she was
Children are the future of the world and need to be nurtured and educated in the best conditions. Thus, parenting is one of the most challenging and admirable responsibilities that people can experience. Parenting plays important roles in the development of children’s characteristics. Some people nurture children depending on their own ways. Others get advice from friends or books. Parenting can be divided into three groups: authoritative, permissive, and democratic parenting.