Living in Families Essay Example for Free

Living in Families EssayHow does the average person view the common family? In the picture of a happy family on commercials, contradict and hatred be replaced with sweetness and adoration qualities that are apparent on the family members smiling showcases. Pure happy days are simply not existentistic. In real life, families have good reason to fr take occasionally, which leads to a statement by the author Willa Cather some a family relationship.She comments that the seed of the family conflict is from the clash of to each one members individual personality, or identity. As one builds own identity, there is no choice plainly to struggle for appealing his or her ego to other family members veritable(a) though they are a family who is supposed to understand and concede to one another, brainlly speaking. Cather as well as says that family members abide by the sense of security from mutual existence, and they want to eschew from the restraint and infringe on individual secrecy at the same time. Three works of literature which support Willa Cathers idea about family relationships are I radical here(predicate) Ironing by Tillie Olsen, Two Kinds by Amy Tan, and fellows discolor by James Baldwin. Through the eyes of these roles, we can see how the development of identity causes conflicts amidst family members. Ironically, they go along to bow out apart from each other even though they need each other. We should explore how the characters fall over the tragic extremity (Cather 107-120). Though the main conflict in I al-Qaida hither Ironing doesnt seem to appear on the surface the author shows that the conflict occurs inside bank clerks mind. When the narrator has Emily, her girl, she is nineteen and it is the pre-relief, pre-WPA world of the depression (341). Living in the new era as a nineteen-year-old single mother, she has to confront her new identity.In other words, there is a struggle between two identities inside her, as an individ ual who tries to survive in tough circumstance and as a mother who tries to love her daughter. As she confesses that she was a distracted mother (345), her unstable identity does not leave her to take superior care of Emily. This is the situation which Cather referred to as a double life (107-120). The narrator has suffered from the real life that stamps the faces and gives character to the voices of our friends (Cather 107-120). In laborious circumstances, her only family, Emily, is the reason why she is still alive, but also the burden from which she wants to escape. This is shown in what was in my face when I looked at her, the scene in which she realizes her frown face at her daughter maxim there were all the acts of love (341). Because of her desperate fate, the narrator unconsciously tries displace away from her daughter even though she seeks to feel (Cather 107-120) maternal affection for Emily. This irony is represented by Cathers idea of the tragic necessity of human lif e (107-120). At the end of the story, the narrator shows her exit to finish the conflict she has soundd. According to Emily who never believed herself to be special, finds her identity and path, which concludes with her mother lightening the pressure about being a role of breeder by letting her be (345). Contrary to I Stand Here Ironing, the main conflict between family members in Two Kinds is revealed clearly it is about the relationship between a mother and daughter. The peculiarity of this story is that the basis of the conflict is a clash of two diverse cultures, which can be interpreted as a clash of two identities the Chinese mother who wants acquiescent daughter and the Americanized daughter, named Mei, who wants to follow her own heart (353).Her mothers wishful thinking is clear on this quote you can be anything you want to be (346), which means actually you can be anything I want you to be. This attitude is very different from the mothers attitude in I Stand Here Ironin g. On contrary to letting her be (345), Meis mother keeps pushing her daughter to do what she wants, not what her daughter wants this is Meis mothers personality. Meis chemical reaction is I wont be what Im not (348). As a result, the conflict in this story is caused by the clash of individual identities, as Cather describes. Moreover, the trouble reaches a peak at their quarrel following the piano recital. In this scene, Mei pretends to pull away (Cather 107-120) from her mother by saying the magic words (353). What Mei says was not from the bottom of her heart it could be seen when Mei gets the piano as a sign of forgiveness (353), she feels proud, as if it were a shiny trophy (354). In other words, she cannot disclaim that she misses her family even though she wants to get away from them. After all, the daughter seeks to get out of the tragic necessity (Cather 107-120) by realizing that the two piano pieces imploring child and perfectly contented (354) is one song, which mean s that the pleading child has become perfectly contented. Compared to the other two works above, the conflict in fellas Blues occurs between a sibling relationship, not between parent and child relationship as in the preceding examples. The origin of the conflict is the same the clash of identities. At the beginning of the story, the fact that the narrator, Sonnys brother, gets Sonnys news from the newspaper shows that the relationship between two brothers is not gear up their relationship as a family has already been pulled away (Cather 107-120).The reason why they have been separated from each other for a long time was the lack of comprehension of the others individual personality. To keep down the darkness outside (384), which describes the discrimination in that era, both brother have to develop their identities which helps them as they endure hardships. Unfortunately, the identities they developed are very different the narrator is practical and conservative, and Sonny is em otional and unconventional. The clash of the identities has split the brothers and causes Sonny to pursue escaping, running away, and trying to break the net (Cather 107-120) which leads to his addiction to heroin. In fact, Sonny had everlastingly been a good boy (377) as a member of the family. In his subconscious, he had another secret, wild and intense (Cather 107-120). Though the narrator tries to care for Sonny in order to fulfill the promise make to his mother, He cannot understand Sonnys another (Cather 107-120) aspect. This conflict is the reason why they keep clout away each other. Nevertheless, at the end of story, they get back together with perfect comprehension. Listening to Sonnys play, the narrator understands, at last (398), his brothers identity and why they were pulling away from each other he realizes that the root of the conflict the brothers had was not because of Sonnys rebellion but of his own misunderstanding of the suffering Sonny has endured. The brothe rs prepare to overcome the tragic necessity, which initially separated them, with a Scotch and milk (399) in the end. In conclusion, through the analysis of the three works of literature, Willa Cathers idea of the double life and tragic necessity of human relationship (107-120) can be seen as a universal theme in various stories. The development of identity causes the conflicts between family members, and the irony is that they continue to pull away from each other even though they need each. In Cathers view, family members have a chance to overcome the conflicts they have had, as demonstrated by the narrator of I Stand Here Ironing, Mei from Two Kinds, and Sonnys brother from Sonnys Blues. Each character gets the better of his or her own conflicts to a certain extent. As they should families are supposed to stick together.ReferencesCather, Willa. Katherine Mansfield. Willa Cather on Writing. Lincoln, NE University of Nebraska Press, 1988. 107-120.Schilb, John, and Clifford, John. M aking Literature Matter. Boston, MA Bedford/St. Martins, 2006