Daug Bad Father

Gary D. Schmidt uses metaphorical comparisons to enhance the reader’s understanding of a character’s development throughout the novel Okay for Now. Doug’s development coincides with his changing perception of the Audubon birds. The birds portray Doug’s feelings in important situations in his life. For example, Doug asks his father about the prizes from the trivia contest, and his father becomes very angry that Doug is questioning him. Doug is caught in the middle of a difficult situation just like the yellow Shank. He does not know whether to just stare “into this dark place” or “cross the river that divides him from it” (Schmidt 178). Doug went from being in the middle right into the darkness with one statement just as Audubon portrayed the

How parents act towards you affects how you act towards other people. In the book Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt, Doug’s father causes many problems for Doug and the family. When Doug has to move to a new town because of his father’s job, he has to start a new life. Doug not only has to deal with going to a new school but he also had to deal with his hard family life that his dad causes them.

because his way of living is not an good example to show the other Wes. This simply gives the other Wes a disadvantage to not growing up with a competent role model like author Wes. Author Wes had multiple competent role models surrounding him that help him have a better understanding on how to succeed in life. Author Wes grew up with a decent father, who showed him how to take care of his family by working, loving and being present. This not only allow author Wes to have a good role model but a father figure which gave him a advantage over other Wes. Even though his father

Doug, the main character, resembles the Arctic Tern from John Audubon's book of birds. I say this because he feels what the bird is feeling in the picture, here are some examples. Doug describes the Arctic Tern as being all alone when he says on page 19 “He was all alone”. I think Doug can relate to that because he is basically all alone in

He mostly shows this trait when the family goes to the Ballard annual family picnic. After Doug wins the trivia contest, Doug’s father tries to make up excuses of why he didn’t win. Not wanting to make it obvious, Doug's father is trying to cover up his jealousy. “...except for my father, who pointed out how unfair it was not to have a single question on babe.”(167) While Doug and his family were on the way home from the trivia contest, Doug’s father clearly shows he is jealous. “Don't you get it? He set you up more than anyone.”(167) From being jealous Doug’s father shows how he only cares about the good things that happen to him, not other

Throughout the text, multiple birds are shown in various places to symbolize a hidden meaning within the story. During Phoenix’s journey, she encounters bobwhite quails that are seen walking on the “easy” side of the path, but are soon killed by a hunter. This scenario reveals that the easiest path may not be the best choice. Later in the text, a buzzard is seen making a

As they grow, all of the life choices and parenting styles the parent commits to interfere with how the child will develop as a person. With that being said, the father of the child might abuse the mother in front of the child every night when he comes home drunk. Consequently, the child might grow up believing it was okay to hit women. On the other hand, the parents could be raising the child perfectly but what they experience at school could abolish every life lesson that the parents had put before them. As the African proverb states, “It takes a village to raise a child”. No matter who enters the child’s life for any given time, it will affect who the child will become. In the book The Other Wes Moore, both Moore boys grew up in a town filled with violence and drugs. Even though both boys’ mothers raised them properly and gave them every care in the world, the environment that they grew up in paid its toll on both boys. As the other Wes Moore’s mother found out about his dealing with drugs, the first thing she asked herself was, “Who is to blame for this” (74). All of the people that influenced Wes; Tony, the neighborhood, the school system, and Wes’s friends flooded through his mother’s mind at that very moment. “She put them all on trial in her mind,” Moore writes (75). It is not just the mother or the parents who are raising the child, it is the entire village.

Many people face trials and tribulations day to day that mold them into the individuals they are destined to be. These could be positive or negative trials and tribulations, but either way, experiences ultimately are the major key to people’s growth and perception of the world around them. These experiences may be brought on by external factors such as who people surround themselves with (i.e. friends and relationships), neighborhoods and what is considered the “norm” for said neighborhood (i.e. gun violence, gang involvements, drugs, etc.), influences from parents or other caregivers and the amount of time they devote to the growing child. Many people are granted the same opportunity as others, but they let these extrinsic factors sway them from their destinations and wind up in situations based on how they handled previous situations. This idea is true in the novel The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates written by Wes Moore. In this novel, Wes Moore gives the detailing truth about how people are affected negatively by their decisions everyday, but also how positive influences such as role models and caring families have a positive effect on the development and destination of a child. The paths that both the Wes Moores took in life could have easily converged and been taken on by the other. No matter one’s predetermined outcome in life, his or her life can still be drastically shifted due to external influences and resources, much

Children need love and care from their parents and they repeat what the parents do. Because parents play a huge a role, in shaping a child's mind, they could make their children a normal person just like a kind neighbor who lives around them, or a murder who kills an entire family in the future. For instance, Perry Smith, from In Cold Blood, involved in the Clutter murder case. During his childhood, he had few traumatic events like his father beats him, or meeting abusive people at a children's shelter. As a consequence, his incompletely formatted ego led him to this murder case.

So, naturally, she fell in love with him. Perhaps the one quality that unites everyone is that they all have trouble with their parents. Claire’s problem is that she is used as a weapon to the other “spouse” of her parents and the only way she can escape that destiny is to be with friends as much as possible, liking going to the mall and doing other stuff that she has built up in her mind of being cool. Bender was hated by his parents and probably was an “accident.” The way his parents treated him built up this image of himself in his mind that was negative; and therefore, made him negative. Brian was pushed to over achieve by his parents and so when he finally got an “F” he thought that it was the end of the world, when in fact he most likely doesn’t care. He does not think for himself, he thinks, “What are my parents going to think?” Andrew thinks the same way. He stated openly that he does not care if he wins or loses, and that he sometimes wishes that his leg would give so that he would not have to wrestle anymore. Last, Alison was ignored by her parents; forcing her to think that everyone must ignore her.

Research shows that children are more susceptible to commit crimes, fail in maintaining long lasting relationships and develop depression as well as other psychological disorders from the effects of bad parenting. In fact, many people grow up treating others the same way their parents have treated them with reference to their parents’ values, behaviours and attitudes. Harper Lee, an American author, expressed her childhood experiences in Alabama through writing the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. In this novel Harper Lee highlights the prevailing racist attitudes that existed in Alabama in the 1930s. Lee does this by having the parenting style of Atticus, and its impact on his children, stand in contrast to these prevailing racist attitudes. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee conveys that Atticus Finch is a great parent because he is not a hypocrite, he has a sense of fairness and he has good morals and values.

The author stated that, "We left home, married, had children of our own, found the s eeds of meanness blooming also within us." So, I believe that this means the children didn't hold anything against their father. They knew his meaness was out of love and to make them better fucntioning and responsible adults. My husband has told me many times stories on how tough he had it with his father growing up, especially over his sisters but he still loves and respects his father. I believe my father in law being so tough on my husband and making him start working on a farm with him at the age of 8 has made my husband the hard worker that he is today. He has taken a lot of the traits that he thought were beneficial to his life and uses the same with our children and omits the ones that he felt were to harsh growing up. I sometimes wonder if my fasther in law feels somewhat like the author sometimes because he is especially nice and lets his grandchildren get away with things he would never let my husband do when he was a child. Although that could simply be a grandparent thing that happens to all grandparents. I believe the author and my father in law have the same character traits and are both stubborn, strict but loving fathers to their

Every person reaches a point in their lives when they must define themselves in relation to their parents. We all come through this experience differently, depending on our parents and the situation that we are in. For some people the experience comes very early in their lives, and can be a significant life changing experience. In William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” Colonel Sartoris Snopes must decide either to stand with his father and compromise his integrity, or embrace honesty and morality and condemn his family. This is a difficult decision to make, especially for a ten year old boy that has nothing outside of what his father provides. Sarty’s decision to ultimately betray his father is dependent on his observation of Abner’s character

Raymond Carver was born in 1938 and had an unstable childhood which led to his unstable adulthood. He followed his father to different cities looking for work, and the two of them worked together in a sawmill in Chester, California. Raymond’s parents were not positive role models in his childhood. In Carol Sklenicka’s Raymond Carver: A Writer's Life, Carver mentioned an occasion when his mother hit his father “between the eyes with a colander and knocked him out” in his essay “My Father’s Life,” (Sklenicka). Frequent events similar to this resulted in Carver never having the ability to experience what a family should look like, leading to Raymond himself acting in a similar way. William A. Rothenberg and Andrea M. Hussong of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Laurie Chassin of Arizona State University found “moderate levels of family conflict are perceived by adolescents at age 10, with moderate linear decreases in family conflict over time. Adolescents in families where a parent had a substance use diagnosis reported higher levels of conflict than their peers at age 10, and this difference remained stable over time” (Rothenberg et al.). Since Raymond was still young during these events, he grew up surrounded by these conflicts resulting in a normalization of them. Not long after starting this job he

Throughout our lives we're influenced by many. It can have an effect on the way we view issues within societal boundaries. One of the major influences children have in their lives comes from their parents. The parents of a child can have both a positive and a negative influence on their lives. In the novel "To Kill A Mockingbird", there are two excellent examples of how parents can be a major influence on their children. Atticus Finch, father of Jem and Scout Finch, plays the loving, kind and knowledgeable father. He is an example of how parents can have a positive influence on their children. Bob Ewell, father of Mayella Ewell, plays the drunken, abusive, and neglectful father. He is an example of how a parent can be a negative influence