preview

Growing Up With A Mentally Ill Parent Essay

Decent Essays

In an article titled “Growing up with a Mentally Ill Parent,” Suzanne Degges-White says that children “grow up believing that the symptoms of mental illness that are evidenced in erratic and irrational parental behavior are “normal,” if they have no easily accessible external reference points.” This means that a child with a mentally ill parent may grow up thinking that it is the normal way of life for everyone. They may think this if they have limited contact with families with a “typical” structure. However, if they have a lot of contact with “typical” families they might realize theirs is not normal. She goes on to say that “some children may take on the behaviors and beliefs of their psychologically distressed parents and act out …show more content…

This at first doesn’t seem like a big deal until the parentheses are read. In the parentheses Miller adds that “He [Willy] turns around as if to find his way; sounds, faces, voices, seem to be swarming in upon him and he flicks at them, crying.” (Pg. 228) This makes Willy seem very crazy and mentally ill, which he is.
We find the connection between the article “Growing up with a Mentally Ill
Parent” and the play The Death of a Salesmen through the children Biff and Happy
Lowman. The two children are sons to Willy Lowman who is mentally ill. The sons grow up thinking that their family is a “normal” or “typical” American family because they both have limited access to normal families. They also grow up with their father’s
American belief that a man can do anything in life even if he doesn’t get good grades or have good morals. “Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead.”
I think that the play Death of a Salesmen portrays the life with a mentally ill parent rather well. Having a mentally ill parent is a sad reality that many American children face today. The impact of their environment will be determined by

Get Access