The novel, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, explores some of the different types of relationships humans have during a lifetime. The main character Billy is only 19 years old. A naïve, yet wise young man. His travels and experiences have led him to a deeper understanding of some of the most intense and meaningful relationships in his life. This is a rare advantage at this age, to be so naïve yet so wise. I can relate to the character on certain levels, particularly on the types of relationships he develops. Like the character, I was 19 years old when I joined the US Navy. I was as naïve and green as Billy. My travels also led me to a deeper understanding of some intense, meaningful, and relationships in my life that I hold sacred. Does joining the military actually make you a sage? If faced with our own mortality, does this actually teach us the wisdom of the ages? Family relationships are our first introduction to living with other people. In the novel, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Billy Lynne is part of a small family that lives in Stovall, Texas. He lived with his mother, father, and two sisters. Like most families they were not without drama and were as dysfunctionally close as some families. Billy’s sister, Kathryn states, “Some days I think I am living in a bad country song.” [79] Kathryn is referring to the father’s infidelity and their mother’s crass attitude toward the now disabled provider. A sentiment that that they all share, in some small way in their hearts, but they still loved each other. This was evident through the chapter entitled: “Bully of the Heart.”[74] The scene that was described when Billy arrived for his short visit home was a hallmark moment for the family. The tears and hugs mixed with laught... ... middle of paper ... ...ve poems that would melt the coldest hearts of any winter enchantress. It turns out that I married her 10 years later. When you think about it I was the original “Cherry boy”. Fiction or nonfiction, life imitating art or art imitating life, wisdom comes to us in one way or the other. The question that remains, did Billy receive this wisdom before he entered the military? He came from a loving home but was yearning not just for a meaningful relationship with a women but one he was lacking with his father. The way he looked to Sargent Dime for leadership, Shroom for the meaning of life, as well as the other members of Bravo for acceptance as a peer. Faison was a blessing to Billy, a reward someone to look forward to once he returns home from his long half time walk. Works Cited Fountain, Ben. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. New York: Ecco, 2012. Print.
The social, cultural and political history of America as it affects the life course of American citizens became very real to us as the Delany sisters, Sadie and Bessie, recounted their life course spanning a century of living in their book "Having Our Say." The Delany sisters’ lives covered the period of their childhood in Raleigh, North Carolina, after the "Surrender" to their adult lives in Harlem, New York City during the roaring twenties, to a quiet retirement in suburban, New York City, as self-styled "maiden ladies." At the ages of 102 and 104, these ladies have lived long enough to look back over a century of their existence and appreciate the value of a good family life and companionship, also to have the last laugh that in spite of all their struggles with racism, sexism, political and economic changes they triumphed (Having Our Say).
The Kelvey family’s low income and less fortunate lives made them experience different treatments from many people. For example, “Even the teacher had a special voice for them, and a special smile for the other children when Lil Kelvey came up to her desk with a bunch of dreadfully common-looking flowers.” In their lives, people treated the Kelveys differently from others just because of their financial situation. This helps further make it evident that many different things factor into the experience of being an outsider. For the Kelveys, it was social status and how they were seen because of their lifestyle. As seen from the 3 different texts, the universal feeling of being an outsider stands as something to be learned from. Although everyone may be an outsider in the regards of someone else, it is not hard to treat a fellow human as if they were not an outsider. Anyone can be an outsider, but everyone can be an insider if enough effort is
Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes is a novel about an African-American boy’s coming of age during the early 20th century. The narrative takes us through the childhood and adolescent years of the quiet and intelligent Sandy Rogers. Just as any other child, Sandy is greatly influenced by the people he meets, the places he goes to, and his experiences in different situations as a black child who is looked down upon in a dominantly white hegemony. Though all the people we meet in life affect us in some way, it is a common fact that those who are closest to us, our constant companions, are the driving forces that shape how we turn out to be as adults. In this narrative, two characters who influence Sandy in a great way are Aunt Hager and Aunt Tempy. Aunt Hager is his maternal grandmother who is the center of Sandy’s life for a majority of the time in the story. She provides for him and becomes his guardian when his lovelorn mother leaves him to be reunited with her husband, Jimboy Rogers. Aunt Tempy is a maternal aunts who is merely a distant and foreboding presence in Sandy’s life until the death of Aunt Hager, where she fills in the vacuum of his guardianship. Therefore, in Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes, the two characters Aunt Hager and Aunt Tempy contribute to the protagonist’s coming of age by influencing his morals and his education, and thus, his character.
The author uses imagery, contrasting diction, tones, and symbols in the poem to show two very different sides of the parent-child relationship. The poem’s theme is that even though parents and teenagers may have their disagreements, there is still an underlying love that binds the family together and helps them bridge their gap that is between them.
Since Sister was affected the most by certain actions of the family, Welty narrated this short story through Sister’s point of view to show how the function of the family declined through these actions. Sister was greatly affected when her sister broke the bonds of sisterhood by stealing her boyfriend and marrying him. Secondly, Sister was affected by the favoritism shown by her family towards her younger sister. Since her sister was favored more than her, this caused her to be jealous of her sister. For example, Sister shows a lot of jealousy by the tone she uses when describing what Stella-Rondo did with the bracelet that their grandfather gave her. Sister’s description was, “She’d always had anything in the world she wanted and then she’d throw it away. Papa-Daddy gave her this gorgeous Add-a-Pearl necklace when sh...
Russell Baker, the author of Growing Up, grew up in Morrisville and the surrounding areas amongst his family (Baker, p. 36). In 1925, Baker’s mother and father, Betty and Benny, moved to a yellow farmhouse about one hundred yards from the home of his grandmother, Ida Rebecca. Baker’s family revolved around Ida, allowing all of them to be a part of Russell’s life in some shape or form (Baker, p. 42-4). During his infancy, both his mother and grandmother had a part in raising him. Through each of their distinct ideas on how to raise a child, Baker got the best of both worlds. Betty enforced safety and responsibility, providing Russell with a sturdy foundation to beco...
In both Katherine Porter’s “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” and Eudora Welty’s “Why I Live in the P.O.”, the main characters deal with family members they frankly do not like. Due to both of their being jilted by men, they are full of resentment and anger causing these women to leave their families on bad terms. Porter and Welty are presenting through the character’s flashbacks and memories that we should pick our battles wisely when it comes to our families because one day they will be gone and, some of us might miss our deceased loved ones, like Granny from “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”, or be filled with a hatred towards them, like Sister from “Why I Live in the P.O.”.
Currently, families face a multitude of stressors in their lives. The dynamics of the family has never been as complicated as they are in the world today. Napier’s “The Family Crucible” provides a critical look at the subtle struggles that shape the structure of the family for better or worse. The Brice family is viewed through the lens of Napier and Whitaker as they work together to help the family to reconcile their relationships and the structure of the family.
When two siblings are born together, and are close in age, many people wonder whether they will be the same or different altogether. A “River Runs through it” shows two brothers who grew up in the same household, and grew up loving to do the same activity fly fishing. Both brothers were raised in a very strict presbyterian household. Norman is the older brother, and he is much more responsible and family orientated. Paul is the irresponsible younger brother; Paul as an adult was not at home much anymore. Both brothers were loved equally as children, but how they view and use love is what separates them. Paul and Norman differ in behavior and character.
...is with an illustration of his personal family dynamic. Meanwhile, Mrs. Davis will be encourage to communicate her truly feelings on how she has felt about being mistreated and feeling alone.
In the play “True West” by Sam Shepard, there are two main characters Austin and Lee that are so different and similar due to their family culture of dysfunction. A dysfunctional family is one in which that shows conflict, hostile environments, inappropriate behaviors to not only upon them, but to those around them. In most dysfunctional families you will find children that have been neglected or abused by parents, to which most of these children tend to think that these such behaviors are normal. Shepard shows this relationship of dysfunction of a family between two brothers that shows one brother who thinks he has escaped the dysfunction, and one that has carried out the dysfunctional family culture.
In “Up the Coulee,” Hamlin Garland depicts what occurs when Howard McLane is away for an extended period of time and begins to neglect his family. Howard’s family members are offended by the negligence. Although his neglect causes his brother, Grant McLane, to resent him, Garland shows that part of having a family is being able to put aside negative feelings in order to resolve problems with relatives. Garland demonstrates how years apart can affect family relationships, causing neglect, resentment, and eventually, reconciliation.
Billy Pilgrim time travels to various moments in his life at random, which suggests he has no power over his mind and the memories that haunt him. He “is spastic in time, (and) has no control over where he is going next” (Vonnegut 43), as he struggles to make sense of his past. Billy’s ability to remember events in an erratic sequence, mirrors the happenings of war. War is sudden, fast paced, and filled with unexpected twists and turns. Billy cannot forget what he experienced during his time as a soldier, and in turn his mind subconsciously imitates this hectic quality of war. This behavior proves that although the war is over, “psychologically, Billy has never fully left” (Vees-Gulani). For many soldiers, especially those who were prisoners of war (POW), it is inevitable that their mind will not be like it once was (Vees-Gulani).
In The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, we embark on the task of seeing a family living in the post WWII era. The mother is Amanda, living in her own world and wanting only the best for her son, Tom. Tom, a dreamer, tired of Amanda’s overbearing and constant pursuit of him taking care of the family, wants to pursue his own goals of becoming a poet. He is constantly criticized and bombarded by his mother for being unsuccessful. This drives him to drinking and lying about his whereabouts, and eventually at the end of the play, he ends up leaving. An example of Amanda and Tom’s quarrel I when he quotes, “I haven’t enjoyed one bit of this dinner because of your constant directions on how to eat it. It’s you that makes me rush through meals with your hawklike attention to every bit I take.”(302) Laura, on the other hand, is shy and out of touch with reality because of a slight disability, in which she is comfort...
Marie, who is a product of an abusive family, is influenced by her past, as she perceives the relationship between Callie and her son, Bo. Saunders writes, describing Marie’s childhood experiences, “At least she’d [Marie] never locked on of them [her children] in a closet while entertaining a literal gravedigger in the parlor” (174). Marie’s mother did not embody the traditional traits of a maternal fig...