“Simple recipes” by Madeleine Thien, and “The Closing Down of Summer” by Allister MacLeod both take focus on the struggles of isolation or alienation in their families, caused by the separation of cultural identities, or being away from home due to work. The impression of isolation found in the text is generated from the circumstantial behaviours among the character’s actions, thoughts, or exchange of language. Macleod focuses on how his protagonist has become detached from his family, losing the ability to communicate to them due to his seasonal occupation and adapting to the sub-culture of his work life. Whereas Thiens story demonstrates how the behaviour of a parent’s desire to retain culture has created a dividing tension between two different …show more content…
Thiens father figure remains fixed to the cultures of the monsoon, whereas Macleod fatherly trope has forgotten social norms and replaced it with the conventions of the mining shaft. The cultural deviation is emphasized through the language barrier between parent and child; demonstrated in Thiens story when the daughter hears her parents speaking a “forgotten language”, the recurring inability to comprehend their foreign tongue. The dissociation of communication is emphasized when the mother is incapable to soothe her daughter as the son is disciplined, she recognizes her brother’s screams yet is incapable to comprehend her mother’s words (154). Yet, this implies the significance to act out communication regardless of language barrier. Yet this only emphasizes the father’s action in disciplining the son with a bamboo stick, in comparison to his criticism. Given the norms of the parents is alien to the children, the mode of discipline is considerably horrendous. Which is demonstrated in the innuendo of each bamboo swing acting as an axe, and the concept of “a tree falling” metaphorically resembling the idea of the family tree being cut down. Which is followed with the focus of the blood trickling down the sons back, expressing the only thing linking that family is their blood. The blood of the son is the same as the father’s, yet there is something beyond blood that bonds …show more content…
Likewise, to Thiens story as the father stands in the doorway, incapable to speak and properly express himself. The narrator’s desire to show his children what he goes through on a daily basis in order to maintain their life-style, and what he wants them to avoid. The figurative Gaelic warrior always preparing themselves for death. The unseen fatherly actions, sacrifices, and hardships made within the mining shaft with the sole intention for the betterment of his family. He surpasses the duty of fatherhood, yet consequently loses the emotional ties with his children. The missed opportunities to act as a parent, which is done in Thiens story; The mother’s action in soothing the daughter, or the act of a father rearing his children, are examples of missed moments in fulfilling the role as a parent. The missed sentimental realization that he want present for the birth of any of his children, the death of two, nor being present for any youthful accomplishment or occasions. Someone else stepped in taking his role as a father, which is emphasized that “broken tricycle wheels and dolls with crippled limbs have been mended by other hands than mine” For there is a painful realization in Macleon’s fatherly figure, being the odd parent that returns for a short span of time to try and regain his role as
The search for and importance of family and identity of the Calum Ruadh clan in Alistair MacLeod's No Great Mischief is significant to the concept of blood being thicker than water. The importance of family, as indicated in No Great Mischief, is very apparent in regards to the main point of prominence in this deeply emotional Gaelic- Canadian tale.
Michalopoulou is selectively descriptive when it comes to the main character of the unnamed father. With Michalopoulou's description of the father the reader is led to believe that he does not care about his children: "He'd gotten used to their backs, but it had been a long time since he'd seen their faces" (Michalopoulou, 77). Throughout the story one can see that the father is not completely like what he is first perceived to be. The father sneaks around and begins to cheat on his wife. The reader is informed that the wife is wheelchair bound and unable to move due to paralysis. When the father is "caught" cheating he leaves home and begins a life with his paramour, a young real estate agent. Feeling bad about leaving his two children he attempts to reconnect with them.
The author shows how the feelings of each character affects the story. The sentiment of the father throughout the story is his selfishness. He doesn’t care much about other people
The poem is written in the father’s point of view; this gives insight of the father’s character and
Jeannette Walls has lived a life that many of us probably never will, the life of a migrant. The majority of her developmental years were spent moving to new places, sometimes just picking up and skipping town overnight. Frugality was simply a way of life for the Walls. Their homes were not always in perfect condition but they continued with their lives. With a brazen alcoholic and chain-smoker of a father and a mother who is narcissistic and wishes her children were not born so that she could have been a successful artist, Jeannette did a better job of raising herself semi-autonomously than her parents did if they had tried. One thing that did not change through all that time was the love she had for her mother, father, brother and sisters. The message that I received from reading this memoir is that family has a strong bond that will stay strong in the face of adversity.
Madeleine Thien’s “Simple Recipes” is a story of an immigrant family and their struggles to assimilate to a new culture. The story follows a father and daughter who prepare Malaysian food, with Malaysian customs in their Canadian home. While the father and daughter work at home, the mother and son do otherwise outside the home, assimilating themselves into Canadian culture. The story culminates in a violent beating to the son by his father with a bamboo stick, an Asian tool. The violent episode served as an attempt by the father to beat the culture back into him: “The bamboo drops silently. It rips the skin on my brothers back” (333) Violence plays a key role in the family dynamic and effects each and every character presented in the story
Familial roles are explored by Harwood and Heaney to evoke emotional reactions from the reader. Section one of Harwood’s ‘Father and Child’ explores the narrative of a “wisp-haired” child experiencing a loss of innocence after maiming a barn owl in rebellion against her “old No-sayer” father while he was “robbed of power by sleep”. Section two draws upon and contrasts this description
Jeannette and her father Rex have a hopeful beginning to their relationship which consists of its own heroic moments filled with many learning experiences, moments of trust, and source of comfort, which letter on took a disappointing end filled with, hypocrisy, lack of trust, lack of protection, alcohol addictions, and death.
In the excerpt from A Few Notes For Orpheus, the narrator experiences an distant relationship with his father due to his father’s lack of attention and care for him in the past. Because of his father’s lack of understanding of his own son, the narrator had not visited his father in two years and as a result, had “forgotten what he looked like.” This infers that the narrator has not forgotten his past conflict with his father, causing him to be unwilling to reconcile with his father. As a result of his lack of communication and association with his father, this further deteriorates their relationship, emphasizing the increasing isolation between his father and him. Upon visiting his father with his daughter Cathy, the narrator attempts to have a quiet, peaceful conversation with his father. However, his efforts are instantly downgraded by his father upon as his father spoke in an abrupt, callous manner with him while taking Cathy and the both “walked away, him holding her hand and talking.” This illustrates the extreme severity of the lack of closeness
When we think of our national health we wonder why Americans end up obese, heart disease filled, and diabetic. Michael Pollan’s “ Escape from the Western Diet” suggest that everything we eat has been processed some food to the point where most of could not tell what went into what we ate. Pollan thinks that if America thought more about our “Western diets” of constantly modified foods and begin to shift away from it to a more home grown of mostly plant based diet it could create a more pleasing eating culture. He calls for us to “Eat food, Not too much, Mostly plants.” However, Mary Maxfield’s “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating”, argues differently she has the point of view that people simply eat in the wrong amounts. She recommends for others to “Trust yourself. Trust your body. Meet your needs.” The skewed perception of eating will cause you all kinds of health issues, while not eating at all and going skinny will mean that you will remain healthy rather than be anorexic. Then, as Maxfield points out, “We hear go out and Cram your face with Twinkies!”(Maxfield 446) when all that was said was eating as much as you need.
A fatherly attribute is one of the most important positions of a child’s life. The novel and poem show the strained relationship of a father and a child. This novel corresponds to the poem “forgiving our fathers” by Dick Lourie, because of the absences of both their mothers and traits of a poorly influenced father; irrational, critical, and deceitful. It shows the complications of the child's and father’s relationship, but when they forgive their fathers, what do they have left? The fathers portrayed in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and “forgiving our fathers” by Dick Lourie demonstrates the characteristics that influence their children, therefore, resulting their mentality.
The role of a father could be a difficult task when raising a son. The ideal relationship between father and son perhaps may be; the father sets the rules and the son obeys them respectfully. However it is quite difficult to balance a healthy relationship between father and son, because of what a father expects from his son. For instance in the narratives, “Death of a Salesman,” and “Fences” both Willy and Troy are fathers who have a difficult time in earning respect from their sons, and being a role model for them. Between, “Death of a Salesman,” and “Fences,” both protagonists, Willy and Troy both depict the role of a father in distinctive ways; however, in their struggle, Willy is the more sympathetic of the two.
Alistar Macleod’s “No Great Mischief” is a novel full of constant recollections of the Clann Calum Ruadh’s past and genealogy and relating it to the history of Canada; everything that happened in the family’s past effected the life they live currently. This is evident in the characters Alexander McDonald, his brother Calum, the different groups of people and all the connections they have with their family’s past and connections they have with the Clann Calum Ruadh. Alexander is the main character and is the one explaining the story of the past in a very short time period in the present and he connects the family lines throughout history. Calum, the older brother, was left to take care of himself and his siblings at a young age, which results in his drunkenness at the present. Included in the story, at many different time periods, are various groups of people, such as the French Canadians, the English, and the Migrant workers who make an impact on the characters of the story. The reoccurring phrase “Always look after your own blood” (14) was passed down the family line and is questioned and demonstrated by the characters.
Nonetheless, this really is a tale of compelling love between the boy and his father. The actions of the boy throughout the story indicate that he really does love his father and seems very torn between his mother expectations and his father’s light heartedness. Many adults and children know this family circumstance so well that one can easily see the characters’ identities without the author even giving the boy and his father a name. Even without other surrounding verification of their lives, the plot, characters, and narrative have meshed together quite well.
Having inherited the myth of ugliness and unworthiness, the characters throughout the story, with the exception of the MacTeer family, will not only allow this to happen, but will instill this in their children to be passed on to the next generation. Beauty precedes love, the grownups seem to say, and only a few possess beauty, so they remain unloved and unworthy. Throughout the novel, the convictions of sons and daughters are the same as their fathers and mothers. Their failures and accomplishments are transferred to their children and to future generations.