Essay on Bad Families in Bel Kaufman's Sunday in the Park

Throughout the play we follow the fortunes and misfortunes of the two boys who's lives eventually intertwine and they become the best of friends much to their mothers' disapproval.

As the story continues Larry begins to lose his way and gets in trouble, Lucia tries to protect him from the harm that is coming to him but he continues to make it increasingly difficult for her. When Larry gets in an argument with Lucia about working for bootleggers he ends up pushing her, which is one of the most disrespectful action he could have taken, "The mother rushed across to him and hit him... He gave her a push that sent her staggering... The Le Cinglatas were aghast" (Puzo 69). Not only has Larry disrespected his mother but he did it in front of other people, truly embarrassing her. When Larry disrespects Lucia, it is a sign that she is losing her oldest son to the American ways more and more, which makes her worry for his safety in America. Instead of stressing over losing her son to America, Lucia steps back and lets him figure out what to do with his life on his own.

Larry Cook, father of Ginny, Rose, and Caroline as well as the main landowner of the thousand-acre farm, is the next character to be analyzed. He is introduced in the book as farmer that is looked up to by his community due to his success. He is the antagonist within the novel and slowly loses his sanity as the story progresses. This loss of sanity is due to Larry’s power and greed that take over him. It begins with his idea to retire and give his land evenly to Rose and Ginny, but after this massive life shift occurs he starts acting irrationally and lashes out at his previous caretakers. The foreshadowing of the major storm aligns perfectly with Larry’s final breaking point with Ginny, “His voice modulated into a scream, ‘Or tell me what I can do and what I can’t do. You barren whore! I know all about you, you slut.” (Smiley, pg. 452). After this, Rose talks to Ginny about their father raping them for years,

This dramatization brings the reader to the realization that the protagonist’s stream of consciousness narration is very unpredictable, yet will ultimately lead to his ability to expose his true feelings as the story develops. The author clearly likes to represent this feeling of indecision with poetic illustration as it is used several times in both stories. In “Newlywed”, the narrator vividly describes his mixed feelings toward his wife, Atsuko, during the peak of his epiphany-like experience:

Along in with the author’s use of metaphors is the frequent use of imagery. In this reading, it is simple to envision the scenes as the different scenarios are explained and the audience can easily picture Staples in the places he is describing and also the people he comes across. Perhaps the most powerful and memorable imagery is provided in the author’s description of people’s different reactions and faces when they come into contact with him. Actions speak volumes and an immediate change of facial expression is possibly one of the

This is a very important part of the book because it shows the reader that the

Another very well used literary device in this story is personification. Personification is when an inanimate object is given human attributes. In the specific instance

     What a loving mother! Lena Younger, or Mama, is nurturing and supportive when it comes to raising and maintaining a family. Personally speaking, being nurturing means to love, care for, and show concern over someone. Analyzing Mama’s relationships with family members can show us her view on parenting and ultimately show us her devotion to her family. In A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, Mama is a nurturing mother who cares for and protects her family in her struggle to keep them unified.

In conclusion, the two characters from both stories, “Sunday in the Park” and “The Use of Force” have a common feeling of being fearful of something. Although the conflict in the stories are different, both authors provided good conflict and a solution for the readers to come up with a theme that best suits the stories. In addition, both authors helped readers relate to how the characters’ feel from a given situation and relate it to

In The Way We Never Were, Stephanie Coontz suggests that society romanticizes past generations of family life and points out that these memories are merely myths that prevent us from “dealing more effectively with the problems facing today’s families” (Coontz x). Coontz proposes that researchers can take empirical data and create misleading causality for that data, thus feeding cultural myth and/or experience. Coontz believes that “an overemphasis on personal responsibility for strengthening family values encourages a way of thinking that leads to moralizing rather than mobilizing for concrete reforms” (Coontz 22). She calls on us to direct our attention to social reforms, which can be accomplished by avoiding victim-blaming

He is known right away to be an intimidating character when he spits on the ground and does not look at Larry’s mother when she speaks. Society would think that he is intimidating, large, unlikable, and never to be messed with. When Larry’s mother tells Joe to stop throwing sand at Larry, Joe’s father encourages Joe to continue. Joe’s father defines the themes on the roles of men and behaviors. Being completely different from Morton, Joe’s father can be presented as a stereotypical man. He obviously knows how to stand up for himself and earn the best for him and his son. He does not back down like Morton and immediately gains what he has fought for with his actions. Just by slowly looking over Morton “from head to foot” and the way he speaks to Morton, Joe’s father fits the stereotype of men perfectly. His behaviors, such as his body language, the way he speaks, and his reasoning indicate he is exactly what he looks

The idea of family is a central theme in Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun. Hansberry alludes to the Old Testament book of Ruth in her play to magnify “the value of having a home and family”(Ardolino 181). The Younger family faces hardships that in the moment seem to tear them apart from one another, but through everything, they stick together. The importance of family is amplified by the choices of Walter and Beneatha because they appear to initiate fatal cracks in the Younger family’s foundation, but Mama is the cement who encourages her family to pull together as one unit. The hardships of the family help develop a sense of unity for the Younger household.

Everyone wants a perfect family, but nothing is ever perfect. The family in “Why I Live at the P.O.” is most definitely less than perfect. When Stella-Rondo returns to her old home after leaving her husband and bringing her small child who she claims is adopted, much conflict in the family increases. Stella-Rondo turns every family member living in the household against Sister, her older sister, and every family member betrays Sister by believing the lies Stella-Rondo tells about Sister to them. Through much turmoil and distress, Sister becomes so overwhelmed with the unending conflict that she feels she must leave her home and live at the post office. In “Why I Live at the P.O.,” Eudora Welty strongly implies that the function of the

Joe then throws a scoop of sand at Larry, just barely missing him. Larry’s mom, at first, seems to be a little surprised that this child would do such a thing, and is even more surprised when the Joe’s parent does not reprimand his child for the act. She finds herself wanting to defend her child and speaks up, telling Joe to stop. When the other child does it again and actually hits Larry this time with the sand, we begin to see Larry is upset about it. The mom’s first thought was she wanted to let Larry fight his own battles, but instead reprimands the boy again. This

Therefore, the story’s main idea was to let the reader imagine what the real meaning of the