Family Theme Essay

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The theme of family The stories “Eveline” by James Joyce, “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell and “A Good Man is hard to Find” by, Flannery O’Conner they share a similar theme ‘Family’. The main characters in each story show different traits of how the family function in each story: that is, how the role of the family determine the decisions the characters make. Are the families functional or dysfunctional, and what qualities account for the success or failure of these family units, and also how does the author affirm conventional ideas about how members of families should behave. Each storylines depicts a regular everyday family setting, however each story tells how the main character played their role and how they feel about their family. In the …show more content…

These three families in each of the stories were dysfunctional, for instance in Eveline The mother had died leaving Eveline the young daughter to play the role of a duly housewife by taking care of the family, in addition she had to work and take home her wages to her abusive father who seems to never show any appreciation towards her; in fact the father was very patriarchal, “when they were growing up he didn’t go for Eveline like he use to go for her two brothers” , because she was a girl (Joyce, pg. 4). In those day they lived in a patriarchal society. Another display of a dysfunctional family was in the story “Trifles”, Mrs. Wright the wife of a farmer is suspected of murdering her emotionally abusive husband John Wright. Being isolated from the world due to the bad treatment from her husband, Minnie was forced in a state of loneliness which drove her to murder. Mr. Hale described Minnie as being happy once, “I heard she use to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster”. Note that Mrs. Hale’s description of Mrs. Wright being happy

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