Relationships And Family Dysfunctions

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Tekitha Heng 589376 Mr. Clark ENG3CO November 12, 2017 Parent-Youth Relationships and Family Dysfunctions In the book Stones by William Bell it is tells a story on prejudice, the supernatural, history, it’s continuous cycle of racism, and labelling. One of the most underlying themes in the novel is Parent-Youth Relationships. Majority of the book touches base on the two main characters; Garnet Havelock and Raphella Skye’s dysfunction within both their families, the main relationships are Garnet & his Mom, Garnet & his Dad, and Raphella and her Mom. The relationship between Garnet and his Mom is offbeat because they are neither close and neither distant from each other, they have each other best interest but aren’t best friends. Garnet and …show more content…

Although Raphella doesn’t speak much about her background and her family life from what Garnet sees is that Raphella’s mom is controlling, overprotective and somewhat crazy. Raphella isn’t allowed to be with any boy no matter whether it’s a platonic relationship or a romantic, she has made it clear that she doesn’t want Raphella friends with males, this makes Raphella resent her slightly. The relationship between Raphella and her mom isn’t that close, and they have the worst relationship, Raphella is resentful at the fact that her mom has path that Raphella must follow and they butt heads on the reason that Raphella doesn’t want to follow that path, she doesn’t want to work at the health food store for the rest of her life. “Oh, my future was decided before I was born. – And she expects me to follow in her footsteps – she’s big on family history and tradition – And become a midwife.” At times Raphella is sympathetic to her mom because she understands why she is the way she is, and why there is so much boundaries around her. “I don’t know how you get over something like that, the betrayal and the debasement. It made my mother bitter, and it turned her against men. She has no use for males. -She’s kept me away from boys my whole life – I understand how she feels, but the decisions she’s made should apply to her life not mine.” (Bell 269) This …show more content…

Showcasing a strong tie between plot and character background strengthened the foundation of each character and made them more relatable to the reader. The portrayal of the families and their dysfunction shows that not every family is a picture-perfect example of what a typical family is but its unrealistic to believe that every family doesn’t have their own troubles and rocky patches but it’s the family’s dysfunction that in all builds the characters to who they are and what moved the plot forward in many ways and can be related to ones own

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