The Namesake, The Arabida And The Kontrabida, In The Family

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Recommended: Relationship between child and family

There is no relationship quite like the bond between a parent and a child. A child starts out completely reliant on their parents and overtime learns to navigate the world on their own, and the intricacies of this approximately 18 year journey leads to an exceptionally complex relationship. These parent-child relationships can be extremely positive and filled with love, but can also contain hardships and tensions as parents guide their children through experiences that they are often decades removed from. Furthermore, many aspects of this relationship can be affected when the parents and children are not just divided by time, but by culture or geography. Parent-child relationships of immigrant families can be loving and supportive relationships, …show more content…

And in the case of Gogol and Steve, their father’s deaths had a multitude of repercussions throughout their lives. As the child of immigrants and an immigrant child, before their tragedies, Gogol and Steve’s parent-child relationships were fractured and distanced because of geographical and cultural discord. However, by going through the tragedy the sons were drawn closer to their mothers and their relationship were strengthened. In fact, the effect of the trauma lasted throughout time, as Gogol and Steve continued to listen more to and see new sides of their mothers. The journeys of these two families has exemplified how the trauma of a death can allow for relationships to revitalize and thrive. The death of a parent is never a happy occasion, in fact it is nearly always a tragic and traumatizing event with huge effects on the life of any children left behind. However, The Namesake and “The Kontrabida” offer the tiniest sliver of hope in the wake of a parent’s death as both texts illustrate the surprising strengthening and bonding of parent-child relationships through the aftermath of a

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