Reflection Essay: An Analysis Of Single Parents In The Family

In the world we live in today, we see the majority of families being broke up and a lot of single parents. This means that kids do not have the opportunity to have both parents in the same environment to raise them. The reason I chose family as my topic to read about is to learn more about how people were affected from this and how it made them feel. For children to feel like they belong to a family, they need both of their parents there for them, mentally physically and emotionally. The short stories, poems, and plays I read this semester have helped me see and understand how other people feel. In the poem “My Old Man” by Charles Bukowski, I got the message that his father wasn’t there for him emotionally. We learn very quickly, Bukowski

When I read this poem it made me feel good. Line 18 of the poem says, “and though you’re poor it isn’t poverty that concerns you” (Giovanni 809). What I got from this statement is, that you don’t need material things to be happy. I feel like a lot of people in our world need to learn that it is not about the things you have and it also shouldn’t be the deciding factor of a person’s happiness. Just as every family has, “they fought a lot” Giovanni 809). The important thing was that the family was together and they had each other. Giovanni reinforced this idea in line 22 of her poem by saying, “only that everybody is together…” (Giovanni 809). My favorite line in the poem was when it said, “Black love is Black wealth” (Giovanni 810). The idea that you are wealthy, not by material things but, by the love of your family and friends. I understand how some people could feel bad with the childhood that Giovanni had but, they are unable to see that material things are the least important thing needed to grow up. To tie up the poem Giovanni said, “all the while I was quite happy” (Giovanni 810). This just goes to show that she had a good childhood and the only thing she needed to survive was the love and company of her family and

In this drama, the little girl’s father died and because of that, the single mother couldn’t care for all of the children. The mother decided the best thing to do was give the youngest child away to her sister so that she could care for and raise the little girl. The little girl, Oates, was told by her “parents,” “when she was old enough to know” (Oates 1062). The family seemed to be very open about it and told her the truth. I don’t agree with this because as it says in the drama, “When I was a little girl and my mother didn’t want me I hid away to cry. I felt so bad and I felt so ashamed” (Oates 1064). I just don’t see how you could tell a child that they were adopted or for whatever reason their parents had to give them away. It is a common and understandable reaction for a child to feel like it was their fault and like something was wrong with them. It is in people’s nature to make others happy and please them, especially in kids. In the whole drama it is repeated time and time again that the little girl would run away and cry. She didn’t have her parents there and not only that it was because her mother “gave her away.” Now, her whole life she wonders why she wasn’t good enough to be a part of her birth family and emotionally she is upset feeling like she wasn’t