"The Artificial Love"
In Anne Tyler’s "The Artificial Family," the personality and character of three individuals are revealed: Toby, Mary and Samantha. The story has no real resolution and seems to end where it began. The characters learn and unlearn by the time the story is complete. There is no long introduction or development of the characters; the characters develop throughout the short story. Tyler uses immediate dialogue making the story even more intriguing for the reader as well as writing simply; this style is ironic due to the intensity of the plot. The author makes it seem like a simple story about two individuals who rush into a relationship only to have it fall apart. However, the plot is much more intense than this.
There are two main themes of "The Artificial Family," love and communication. The conflict is between Toby and his wife Mary. Toby learns to love but does not ever learn how to communicate this love in a positive way with his wife. Another title that would work for this story would be "The Artificial Love." The second theme is the importance of positive communication. Mary never communicated her seriousness about her feelings between Toby and Samantha. She shared there was a problem but chose not to deal with that problem. She left Toby without even discussing their problems with him. Toby never seemed to initiate any interest in his wife’s needs. He never asked her why she felt as she did. He just said he did not see a problem.
The story begins with Mary's first words to Toby in their introduction to each other; "Did you know I have a daughter?" (400) This sets the focus of both of the characters into place. The daughter, Samantha, seems to be the neutral character in the story who not only ties the two main characters together but is used to separate them as well.
Toby is presented as a young college student who is in graduate school on scholarships. He is studying science and seems easy going. He is simple but not a flat character. He starts out not knowing love and ends the story knowing broken love. He learns what it means to love but has not learned what it means to be a husband. In the relationship, he was more of a friend to the two rather than a dad and husband. I do not think he ever saw fault but rather felt pity that she left him.
As one can see, Harriet, Dick and Reverend Lewis Merrill, even though they are all minor characters, affect the major characters, such as Johnny and Owen with their identity, or personality. Without these characters, the novel would never be the same. As Alan Rudolph said, “Human identity is the most fragile thing that we have, and it's often only found in moments of truth.”
Towards the beginning of this novel I felt there was just so much going on that it didn’t really catch my interest. Starting from the first chapter Jackson’s writing seemed very repetitive and held too many riddles that I couldn’t solve. But fast forwarding to the middle it became clear who the main characters were in the story; Mary Katherine Blackwood and her older sister Constance Blackwood.
...e heartstrings of readers in dissimilar ways, together, they demonstrate that children, even without familial structure, can find a way of reaching self-understanding and happiness. For Montgomery and Burnett, the usage of orphaned characters may have been taken from a range of possibilities. Through their characters, they proved that self-reliance and independence are qualities that any child, despite their upbringing, is capable of demonstrating. Additionally, the authors had roles in evoking the sympathy that truly defines a tragic character, and the era during which the tragedies occurred. Anne, Mary and the orphaned protagonists in the remainder of the literary world continue to prove that children, even those entirely independent from guidance, are every bit as capable of taking on the world as adults, and it is for this trait that they are adored.
Up until now, we've been introduced to people such as Rachel and Lucy, Sally, Marin, Alicia and Cathy. These 2 chapters also give us a great insight, regarding the characters development throughout the novel. For example, we see Sally getting married and the narrator philosophizes about having a house in the future, where she would offer passing bums to stay in the attic.
The family structure is made up of individuals living together in intimate groups with the purpose of caring and supporting each other. Rules and boundaries, spoken and unspoken, are developed by the family members. Family rules and boundaries change and shift over time in order to evolve and grow as a family unit. Some changes are subtle, but some events force major change within the family system. This paper applies the concepts of systems theory to the family system in the movie Sweet Home Alabama. Reese Witherspoon (Melanie Smooter) and Josh Lucas (Jake Perry) star in this heart-warming film telling a story of a young woman who flees from Alabama to reinvent herself in New York City as a high fashion designer. She leaves behind her redneck husband and white-trash upbringing. Melanie finds herself engaged to the cities most eligible bachelor and has to return to Alabama to request a divorce from her first love and confront her past ("Alabama," 2002).
The concept of Eros is the personification of life, love, and the psychological function of relationships on the subconscious level. Carl Jung organized these elements of sex called the anima (in men) and animus (in women) as a source of subconscious thinking. As a result, to enhance the importance of Eros, Hillman and Moore establish the assertion that the soul searches for familial significance through myths and archetypes based on this concept. In this paper, I will introduce Hillman/Moore’s reasoning to why and how they determined the meaning of family value by examining the four emotional moments in family life (False Identity, Relatives and in-laws, Family meals, Going back home) and I will
THOSE OF US WHO grew up in the 1950s got an image of the American family that was not, shall we say, accurate. We were told, Father Knows Best, Leave It to Beaver, and Ozzie and Harriet were not just the way things were supposed to be—but the way things were
Society seems to have many different opinions when it comes to relationships and families and what is ideal. The ideal family may not exist anymore. We now have in our society families that are complete that do not necessarily contain the traditional material. The traditional family, as society would see it; usually consist of a married, mother and father and usually children. Moms are supposed to stay at home while dads work the forty-hour a week job. However, in our 2003 world, families exist in a lot of non-traditional ways. A lot of families now consist of single parent families, or same sex parents and their children, or even couples that are unmarried but live together. And even now, if a family contains what society sees as traditional as far as having a mom, dad, and kids, other aspects are not traditional anymore. Women now have more opportunity in the workplace than they have ever had, therefore, many moms are career moms and dads are sometimes staying at home. Years ago, these types of families were given labels for being dysfunctional or abnormal, however, this label is not holding up as well as it did years ago. There are many non-traditional families that are raising children in a loving, nurturing home with a substantial amount of quality love. Quality is the key in any relationship between anyone. Society is finding out that it is not the traditional image that makes a loving family, but the quality of a relationship that people give to each other is what really makes a family. In the essay "The Myth of the "Normal" Family", written by Lousie B. Silverstein and Carl F. Auerbach, they make references to the cultural idea of what a "normal" family should be and what i...
The internal conflicts in The Catcher In The Rye are often viewed as sentimental subplots that provide depth to the coming of age story ...
According to Richard Charles (2001) “the effectiveness of family systems theory rests not much on empirical research but on clinical reports of positive treatment outcomes, the personal benefits experienced by the families that underwent this kind of treatment, and the elegance of Bowen’s theory” (p. 279). Bowen’s family systems theory views the family as an emotional unit and is a theory of human behavior. Systems thinking are used to describe the complex interactions in the unit. However, the client’s ability to differentiate himself/herself from the family of origin is the basis for Bowen’s family systems theory. In addition, the primary focus for growth within the emotional system is differentiation of self. Differentiation of self will be explored as well as how it relates to a church congregation.
Everyone in the world belongs to a subculture. Each subculture has its own sets of traditions, relics, and artifacts. Relics and artifacts are symbolic, material possessions important to one's subculture. Relics are from the past; artifacts are from the present. These traditions, relics, and artifacts help shape the personalities of individuals and how they relate with others. Individuals know about these items through storytelling in the subculture. Families are good examples of subcultures. My family, a middle-class suburban Detroit family of Eastern European heritage, has helped shape who I am through story telling about traditions, artifacts, and relics.
The television sitcom Modern Family produced by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd shows the many different types of a modern American family. According to Andrew Hampp, “The show is among the most-viewed scripted programs in prime time in its second season, averaging 11 million viewers during original airings and often ranked as the most DVRed program most weeks” (2). The television show is a frequently watched show and is liked by many viewers. Modern Family's storyline helps the families of viewers by being an influential and relatable show to different types of families. The show is about the lives of three different families that are all related. In the show there are Jay and Gloria, an intergenerational couple with two sons-- Manny (from Gloria’s previous relationship) and Joe, their new baby. Jay’s adult son Cameron is married to his gay partner Mitchell, and they adopted Lily from Vietnam. Finally, Jay’s daughter Claire is married to her heterosexual partner named Phil and they have three children. The show is influential to our culture today because it shows these different types of families and addresses controversial themes such as gay adoption, the different family connections and communications, intergenerational coupling, and acceptance of diversity within an extended family. The family is easy to relate to while watching because it is based off of real family situations.
At times it is quiet and sweet, shown in the little actions and sayings that are done with little awareness. This the love shared between Toby and Maria. When reading the text it is not one of the relationships that immediately will catch the readers’ attention but it is still a strong example of true love. Usually in a household it is mandatory for the maids to respect the noble people of the household. But rather Maria is bluntly tells Sir Toby to be quiet’: “For the love of ' God, peace!” (Act 2, Scene 3, Li 81). Through this it is seen they have a strong relationship because she is able to reply to him rudely and Sir Toby is not offended. Rather the two of them banter and joke to one another. For example, Sir Toby refers to her as a wonderful woman: “Good night, Penthesilea.” (Act 2, Scene 3, Li 157) Constantly through the play Toby speaks to Maria endearingly, calling her Penthesilea is one of the several examples through the piece. The direct translation of Penthesilea is “you wonderful woman you”. The love shared between Toby and Maria is different than that of the people around them. Rather than being loud about their love, it is shown in the little things they say and do to each other. The nature of love is not always shown using big gestures and songs but in how you solely treat that
Anne Tyler was born in Minnesota in 1941, but much of her childhood was spent moving around. Tyler never spent a minute of her childhood living in the type of suburban household so typical of the 1940's and 1950's. Because large, domestic Southern families surrounded her as she grew up, she was somewhat of an outsider in society. Tyler's unorthodox upbringing caused her "...to view the normal world with a certain amount of distance and surprise, which can sometimes be helpful to a writer"(Crane 2). Tyler realistically depicts family relationships without over-exaggerating them. ...
In order for society to meet the basic social needs of its members, social institutions, which are not buildings, or an organization or even people, but a system whose of social norms, mores and folkways that help make people feel important. Social institutions, according to our textbook, is defined as a fundamental component of this organization in which individuals, occupying defined statues, are “regulated by social norms, public opinion, law and religion” (Amato 2004, p.961). Social institutions are meant to meet people’s basic needs and enable the society to survive. Because social institutions prescribe socially accepted beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviors, they exert considerable social control over individuals.