The theme of the story My Favorite Chaperone, written by Jean Davies Okimoto, is family is always there for you. In this story, Maya is a girl in 9th grade who had recently moved to America from a country called Kazakhstan with her mother, papa, and brother, Nurzhan. From the very beginning, it’s clear that her family is an important part of Maya’s life. It all starts off with her being called to the principal’s office because her brother got into a fight. Her dad of course got mad at both her and her brother. Maya was rather cold to her brother for getting her in trouble. Her mom wasn’t exactly pleased. Only pages later in the book, Maya was caught hanging out with her friend Daniel, an American boy. Her parents didn’t like that either. They
were very upset and angry with her. Her mother said that she brought shame to her father and the family. Despite Maya’s cold attitude to her brother earlier, he attempted to stand up for her Maya. This proves to show how much Maya means to Burhan. Again, only a short while later in the story, Maya’s mother brakes her leg and Maya is needed to cook and help fill in for her. Maya gladly takes the job because she knows how important it is for family to stay together. She even said, “We huddle together like a tiny Kazak island in the middle of a great American sea, we couldn’t allow our winter to go on and on…” This sort of behavior continues throughout the story to the end. Her mother ends up forgiving her and giving her a present, and her brother makes Maya’s dream of going to the dance a reality. My Favorite Chaperone displays how family is amazing and is always there for you.
The protagonist is Aja Houston. She grew up in Middletown Delaware. She was the oldest out of three daughters. She considered herself the "experimental “child. Her parents were very young when they started a family. Her mother struggled to graduate high school because she got pregnant with Aja and biological father never step up and decided to stay in the streets collecting drug money. Houston was very lucky that at age two her mother found the man of her dreams and he was said to be one of the greatest gifts god had given her. She had a very special bond with her beautiful mother she was her first child, who she had raised alone for two years with the support of her mother and grandmother. Her mother was a very strong minded independent woman
I read the book Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez. Anita, an eleven year old girl, is suddenly sent into a very scary and unknown world, right in her own home. Her cousins are running away to the United states, but to get away from what? Her parents are keeping secrets and she tries to get information from her sister, but finds out very little. Anita finds herself struggling when she is forced to grow up very quickly and try not to act as scared as she feels at times. Through the view of a young girl, this story really captures what it’s like to feel like immigration is the only option for a family.
“I wish you weren’t my parent!” A phrase often said to parents when their children are upset. In “Tortilla Sun” written by Jennifer Cervantes, and “Confetti Girl” written by Diana Lopez, the same type of frustration arises. “Tortilla Sun” involves a girl and her mother in an argument. The girl’s mother decides to pursue her education and needs to leaves her daughter at her grandma’s house. “Confetti Girl” is similar; the main conflict is a daughter missing her mother, and her father not being able to bond with her. Because of the divergent mindsets of both parents and their children, awkward and tense situations cause conflicts in both short stories.
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.
A strong maternal bond is crucial in one’s life; however in both Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong and Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, the authors portray the distant relationship between the mother and the daughter as a tool to critique the ‘inhuman’ traditions imposed upon the family members in their respective societies. Though Houng’s and Esquivel’s novels are set in Vietnam and Mexico respectively, they assert that family traditions are unjust and forbid family members to pursue their own dreams, ambitions, and desires as portrayed by the two teenage protagonists and their mothers, who are obligated to sacrifice their own lives for others. In order to gain their freedom, the protagonists have to detach themselves from their oppressive, domineering mothers to break away from the undesirable family traditions in their culture.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros portrays the struggles adolescent Mexican girls go through. The story is about a girl named Esperanza who is trying to figure out who she is. Esperanza dreams of the ‘ideal’ home. Through Esperanza’s eyes an ideal home consists of “…house would be white with trees around it, a great big yard and grass growing…” (Cisneros 4) When her family moves to a new home she is disappointed by the house she sees. The house is small and old, she descries the house as; “Bricks are crumbling in places, and the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in” It was not what she thought it would be. Esperanza feels that the house somewhat reflects who she is as a person, and the house is not a perfect home. She feels ashamed by her superficial identity. In the story Esperanza goes against everything she is raised to be, she wants to be different and break her family culture. The story suggests you
Throughout Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club, the reader can see the difficulites in the mother-daughter relationships. The mothers came to America from China hoping to give their daughters better lives than what they had. In China, women were “to be obedient, to honor one’s parents, one’s husband, and to try to please him and his family,” (Chinese-American Women in American Culture). They were not expected to have their own will and to make their own way through life. These mothers did not want this for their children so they thought that in America “nobody [would] say her worth [was] measured by the loudness of her husband’s belch…nobody [would] look down on her…” (3). To represent everything that was hoped for in their daughters, the mothers wanted them to have a “swan- a creature that became more than what was hoped for,” (3). This swan was all of the mothers’ good intentions. However, when they got to America, the swan was taken away and all she had left was one feather.
Angier, Natalie. "The Changing American Family." The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 Nov. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.
“A happy family is but an earlier heaven”(Brown). The importance of family is shown in the book “Into the Wild”,and how it is important to keep this relationship. Chris’s relationship with his family was terrible, and led to him regretting it. It also tells a story about Chris and his journey to live in the wild in Alaska. There are many people that he met that impact his life on his way. Although to do this he stopped contacting his family, and his relationship with them was ruined. It is possible to have a close relationship with your parents or family by keeping in touch, spending quality time with them, and talking to them about any concerns or problems that come up.
“The House on Mango Street” was peaceful, easy reading for me. After trudging through many short stories documenting eye-narrowing love affairs, I was slogged down, and began to despair of ever finding a decent story that I could relate to. The main character, who is also the narrator, in Sandra Cisneros' story is never named, and the characters' physical and personality attributes are never described. However, their circumstances are made clear. Her family, like mine, has moved around to different rental houses, and now owns their own home. They had to leave their latest rental in a rush, due to plumbing issues, I too have fled a rental house because of complications with leaky pipes. Finally, the protagonist realizes that each time her family moves, another member is added, which I see as a potential allegory to my own life, as far as making new friends as a result of transitions in my life. I feel as though I can relate with her, due to our similar life experiences.
Charlie is fifteen and just entering high school. The book is written in letters to an anonymous person explaining his experiences in high school, his family life and his new friends. Charlie starts by talking about his friends in middle school had how one of them had committed suicide and the other stopped talking to Charlie. He then talks about his family which consists of his dad, his mom, his older brother and sister. Charlie also mention another relative, Aunt Helen. He only got to see her on holidays and she was by far his favorite relative. However, Aunt Helen was in a terrible car accident and passed away.
Life is something hard to understand because you never know what will happen to you tomorrow or to your future, you will not know if someone or something negative or positive will appear from no were and will change your life. Broken Soup by Jenny Valentine, it’s a fiction story; it’s about love and the importance of a family. The main Character Rowan is a 15 year old girl, she lives a difficult life because her brother Jack died, her dad left, and her mother Jane got a whole life depression because of her son’s loss and her 6 year old sister, who she has to take care off.
Since Sister was affected the most by certain actions of the family, Welty narrated this short story through Sister’s point of view to show how the function of the family declined through these actions. Sister was greatly affected when her sister broke the bonds of sisterhood by stealing her boyfriend and marrying him. Secondly, Sister was affected by the favoritism shown by her family towards her younger sister. Since her sister was favored more than her, this caused her to be jealous of her sister. For example, Sister shows a lot of jealousy by the tone she uses when describing what Stella-Rondo did with the bracelet that their grandfather gave her. Sister’s description was, “She’d always had anything in the world she wanted and then she’d throw it away. Papa-Daddy gave her this gorgeous Add-a-Pearl necklace when sh...
Imagine a boy coming to your doorstep and asking you for food for his family. What would you do? In “Cousin Tribulations Story,” Louisa May Alcott illustrated unselfishness by various conflicts.
The book I read was If I Stay by Gayle Forman Mia is a senior in high school her dad is a teacher at and her mother has an office job.She also has a brother who she absolutely adores, his name is Teddy and he is 8 years old.. One morning school was cancelled due to a snow day and her mom decides to stay home because she wanted to spend the day with them also. The family decides to visit friends first then to go to her paternal grandparents house for dinner afterwards. They leave the house and since they all absolutely love music it's a fight about what to listen to. They decide they will take turns listening to their choices. As they're driving down the road they are hit by a truck on an icy road. Mia “wakes up” and can't find her