Along For The Ride Analysis

As the narrator, Claire creates an emotional and compassionate tone throughout the story. Her dialogue constantly consists of words such as “honey”, “mommy”, “love”, which constitutes to the overall mood of the text (Carver 363). Additionally, she is constantly catering to her husband and child by cooking, cleaning, and performing tasks of the typical “stay-at-home” mom. Her affectionate personality, want for control, and mother-like performance plays a role in Carver’s explanation of the stereotypical mother and wife.

Alexandra Bergman’s lack of self awareness allows others to forget that she is a woman and, at times, even human, which continuously builds the wall of isolation that surrounds her. As a result, when she reacts to situations as a woman would, rather than as “she” should, those around her don’t know what to make of it. Because she has been such a steady influence for so many years, those around her do not understand that perhaps she did have another dream besides working the land that she seems to care so deeply about. Her brothers in particular are unable to comprehend that Alexandra is a woman and was forced into the life she has lead by their father’s fantasy

Parents make up an essential part of family. They teach, nurture and discipline their children to make them better in life. But, children's’ parents pass away or divorce leaving the child with one parent or none. In the 20th century biography, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot impulses emotions to reveal how the loss of a parent scars the life of a child forever and thereby causing the child to hate, lose themselves as a person and fear.

Despite the fact that he has left her in poverty to care for their son, her care for him is unyielding and willing to withstand the pain he brought onto her. 'And even though my mother didn't want to be married to him anymore and his wreck didn't change her mind about that, she still came to see him every day. She sang Indian tunes under her breath?he tapped his fingers in rhythm.'; (p. 33) Victor's mother faces depression and alcohol addiction herself, yet even in the midst of these faults, like many other women on the reservation, she painstakingly maintains the strength to try keeping her family together or at least show them her love. Like the mother in another one of Alexie's stories who sings to her child; ' 'I'm singing an its-a-good-day song.' She smiles and I have to smile with her.';(p. 144) This small act of making a child smile can be seen as part of the fight because it serves as an example to their families to continue in the battle of depression in the name of love, fighting off the surrender to desensitized detachment from the family. Even if the example isn't always followed, as in the case of Victor's fleeing father, it is certainly a noble endeavor. A warrior who fights bravely and loses a battle can still be a hero, as we have seen in the women's efforts to hold their families together.

MSTT met with Victoria to examine her relationship with her mother and father. Victoria started by explaining there is no relationship with her mother at this time because she believes her mother is using drugs again and does not want to be apart of it. She explained the last time she spoke to her mother she was drunk. Victoria stated she does not want to be around that or want to see her mother in that condition. Victoria expressed how when she's with her mother or at her mother's home she feels as if she with a stranger or in a stranger home and she does not like having that feeling. MSTT asked if she has spoken to her mother and expressed her concerns and feelings. Victoria stated she spoken with her in the past about this situation and

Talbot beings her essay with a relatable spokesperson by the name of Alex, who is a graduate from Harvard and establishing an informal and personal tone to her article. By creating a personal tone to begin her article she draws the reader’s attention by giving them someone to relate to was well as what Alex is going through. She gives the readers experiences

As a young woman, Denver is lonely and terrified. She knows that, "her mother had secrets -- things she wouldn't tell; things she halfway told" (38). These secrets, she understands, are

Connie is a pretty girl, and “her mother had been pretty once too”, but she is not so much anymore and almost anything Connie does aggravates her (Oates 369). This rigid relationship pushes Connie further away the older she gets. Everything about Connie has “two sides to it,” her shirt “would look one way at home and one way when she was away from home”, she was not fully herself anywhere she went (370). This act shows the way Connie lacks a sense of self. She feels as though she has to behave differently when she is with her family compared to when she is with her friends. The fact that Connie does not have a positive relationship with her mother has a direct effect on how she acts as a young woman. The lack of support and positive attention from a female role model leaves her seeking it out from other

The goal of the halfway house is to provide a temporary safe environment for soon to be released prisoners. Some of the prisoners stay a short period of time approximately 6 months. ( Bohm & Haley, 2014) The halfway house is to help the prisoner transition back to society. The principal goal of the halfway house is to make sure that the prisoners are getting the things that they’re needing to make sure they won’t end up back behind bars. The main goal is to help the prisoners find a steady job where they can be held accountable for their own actions. Education for prisoners is very important so making sure that the prisoner is going to educational classes such as GED classes or trade school. Most important to the prisoners in the halfway

Jeannette’s mother, Rose Mary Walls, is a greedy and egotistical woman who is unfit to be a mother. Jeannette often times is

Nando Pelusi's article, "The Right Way to Rock the Boat", is an informative/explanatory essay that tells us why we, as a society, are filled with timidness and why we should overcome this. Timidness runs in our society because are ancestors, for so long, were afraid that having conflicts with people could cause them to be murdered. Pelusi was saying that this way of existing has existed for so long that it has become the norm. This new norm has also caused us to think so highly of other people's opinions, thus limiting our desire to express ourselves. The goal of this essay is to get people to understand that assertiveness is okay and should not be shunned, as it is a necessity in today's environment.

The feeling of pride swelling up within her is because of that fact that her father acts as her primary role model for. In the society she lives in, girls often associate themselves with their mothers and take after them but such is not the case for the protagonist. She spends the vast majority of her time outside helping out her father with whatever work she is capable of doing. Her mother expresses her disgust for the work that her husband does as the protagonist states that her mother “[dislikes] the whole pelting operation”(100). This dislike can be attributed to the stereotype that women in this society are typically thought to have, as they do not associate themselves with such grueling and filthy work. While the mother finds the work to be off-putting the girl expresses polar opinions as she finds the smell of decaying fox carccases to be “reassuringly seasonal” (100). Her association with the smell paralleling the season of autumn emphasizes her innocence and naivete as she cannot differentiate between what society deems conventional and what is customary to her. Due to most of her time being spent outside and around men, her idiosyncratic behaviour is further reinforced. This initiates a positive feedback for the protagonist as the more she involves herself with her father and his work, the more that she yearns to be like her father. She envisions herself to be like him in the future, which would mean that she

His mom didn’t really want Robert at first and Vincent was very, very supportive about whether she wanted to bring Robert home or not. She said no until one night, when Mary and Vincent went home to their other children, Micheal, Gary, Paula, and Catherine and asked what they thought about bringing hime. All of Robert’s soon-to-be siblings said yes. While at first, Vincent and Mary were a little weirded out at first, their love for Robert grew stronger and stronger. Especially his mom’s, her love grew fast and fierce. His parents got over their “weird” feeling, they decided to take Robert out in the real world without getting

Although Twyla and Roberta both struggled with mother issues, they develop different reactions yet similar solutions to their troubles. During her stay at the youth shelter,

The daughter is bored with her mother's dreams and lets her pride take over. She often questions her self-worth, and she decides that she respects herself as nothing more than the normal girl that she is and always will be. Her mother is trying to mold her into something that she can never be, she believes, and only by her futile attempts to rebel can she hold on to the respect that she has for herself. The daughter is motivated only to fail so that she may continue on her quest to be normal. Her only motivation for success derives from her own vanity; although she cannot admit it to herself or her mother, she wants the audience to see her as that something that she is not, that same something that her mother hopes she could be.