Similar snapshots of this one moment will be mirrored throughout different families and times both past, present, and future. There are moments of absurdity that occur in any family. Sitting stacked upon each other on a plush and comfortable couch, my Mother, Sister and I demonstrate such a moment. When gazing at this particular photograph, one feeling overwhelms me: love. Simply stating “love”, however feels over-rated and unspecific. Just saying “love” is akin to comparing a puddle on a sidewalk to the ocean, the depth of the ocean cannot be explored through a mere puddle. My affection for this picture lies in the evident familial bond and caring that is displayed. There is an awareness between family, sisters especially, of fierce protection, warm comfort, and deep loyalty that encompasses what I define as familial love.
In this image I see my family sitting on the couch in a way that isn 't entirely keeping up with the Jones’. The couch looks fuzzy and the color is that of a Dijon mustard and peach compound. Wrinkles in the fabric and patterns from when petite hands smoothed swirls and shapes into the couch cover can clearly be seen. My Mother sits upon the cushion with her legs crossed in profile to the camera. She still wears her work clothes after coming home from a 10 hour day as a professional hairstylist. Her mahogany colored hair, looking remarkably like a shelf, is being used exactly as that; a slight, blonde-haired, open ocean blue-eyed child wearing a cotton white shirt sits perched behind her on the very top of the couch eating ice cream out of the cup resting on the back of her mother’s head. Completing the trifecta is my elder sister. Doing what older sisters do best, she is seated behind me protectively so I do ...
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...mber may be, we still feel obligated to interact and take care of said family member. This type of love has no limits in whom it can include. On the flip side, when there is a betrayal by a family member that wound is much, much deeper. Families are torn apart everyday because of decisions with a dearth of consideration for the feelings of the whole. Familial love is a primal, instinctual feeling that drives a good portion of our lives. This photograph is an ode to simpler times. When all the children had to worry about was when their next meal was, how muddy they could get the dogs, and whether or not they got to hang out with their older sister and her friends. Familial love is such a complex sentiment that this photo merely encapsulates a small portion of the variance and wonderful emotion that can be the impetus for the emotions and actions of humans everywhere.
The photograph depicts a mother and daughter sitting at the dining room table applying makeup together. This tender moment displays the mother at the head of the table and the daughter is to her right(your left). The two are both applying lipstick with their right hand and have their makeup scattered on the table. The daughter has a smaller mirror than her mother. The black and white photograph has grey tones ranging from black to white.
Photography allows us to maintain memories and relish them whenever we desire. Although some advocates might argue that people are no longer enjoying experiences instead taking more pictures, in the essay, “Why We Take Pictures”, by Susan Sontag, she conflates that photography can be used as a defense against anxiety and a tool of empowerment. I agree with Sontag on the significance of photographs and how it allows us to store a part of our extended relatives so we are able to hold on the memories of family. Therefore, we must appreciate how photography allows us to manage anxiety, express feelings and remember our loved ones.
Almost everyone is born into a family. In “Of Mice and Men”, the characters George Milton and Lennie Small have a relationship that could be described as a family relationship. In “The Gilded Six-Bits”, Joe Banks and Missie May are a husband and wife. These people interact with others but there is a different type of interaction between the people who they consider to be family. When people interact with family members, they are usually more free with their actions and words than they are with strangers or mere acquaintances. Sometimes these carefree words and actions lead to disruptions within their relationships. Regardless of the trials and tribulations, everyone desires to have someone that they can care for and call their family.
An exhibition of portraits of the family by Alice Neel, one of the finest painters of her generation, is at the Norton Museum of Art February 14 through March 29, 1998. Both critics and the subjects of her paintings have written of Neel's ability to portray the dynamics of relationships. Kinships focuses on particular family relationships: siblings, domestic pairs, parents and children, and members of her own family. The exhibition was organized by the Tacoma Art Museum, and is sponsored by The Elizabeth Norton Society.
Any story that begins with a mother fantasizing about reuniting with her daughter on T. V talk show is going to have something to tell us about their family. Probably a lot to tell us in fact. As the narrator herself points out, though, there’s a lot that television wouldn’t be able to show the family members and their complex relationships to one another in this story. The conflict, in fact, concerns competing ideas about what tradition (or heritage) even means. In a classic rock song, the Rolling Stones sing, “you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need.” In this paper, I’m going to relate this quote to my own personal experiences. I’m going to closely analyze the two sisters, Maggie,
They loved them so much even though the parents didn’t deserve it most of the time. That is unconditional love. They grew up very poor and were often forgotten about. There dad was an alcoholic who disappeared for days at a time, and bouncing from job to job. When he was home and drinking he “turned into an angry-eyed stranger who threw around furniture and threatened to beat up [their] mom or anyone who got in his way”(23). Most of her memories of her dad are him being drunk, which turns him abusive and rude. They don’t have much money so she looks at is as good opportunity for her father to stop drinking. Jeannette never only sees her dad as an alcoholic like she should, she still cherishes his love. Along with her father’s drinking problem, her mother’s lack of rules and parental skills are out of the norm. She believes "people worry.... “people worry too much about their children. Suffering when they are young is good for them”(28). Her mother believes that they can learn on their own, showing that she does not care about the hardships her children are constantly dealing with in their environment. With this negligence the children are often forgotten about as well. Jeannette was put in many situations where she thought her parents “might not come back for her or they might not notice she was missing”(30). That is not how a child is suppose to feel about her parents yet she constantly
A misconception that we often have about family is that every member is treated equally. This fallacy is substantially portrayed in Alistair Macleod’s short story, “In The Fall”. Typically speaking, in a family, the Mother is the backbone for kindness and provides love and support with no unfair judgements. However, when we relate to the portrait of the Mother in Macleod’s short story, we perceive the portrait as a self-centered woman whose affection is only shown upon what interests her. The Mother’s unsympathetic persona is apparent throughout the story as she criticizes all that holds sentimental value to her husband and children.
For most people family is one of the most important parts of life. For they are the people who raised you and taught you things needed in life. For most of us we have a connection with are family that is unparallel in life, which is the reason for are undying love. At times though there is a point at which we take are family for granted like they will always be around. Parents might do things that are not agreed upon by the children, yet the parent thinks it is in the child's best interest. Sometimes it might not even be the best thing to do in that situation, yet parents have a true desire to protect their children from the dangers of the world. On the other hand, children do not always listen to the advice their parents give them and can get themselves into a lot of trouble. Anyway you look at it, most of the time we do not realize what we have until it is not longer with us. Many times we do take our family for granted and when one passes away there are many things we wish we could have said or done to show them are love. The play "Into The Woods," by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine is a direct example of how families treat each other. There is conflict ranging from hating sisters, to protective mothers and a disagreeing husband and wife. In the end lives are lost, family are in pain and those left realize that they need to treat their family better and hold on to the loved ones that they have. Families do encounter many difficult choices together, but they also must solve the problems together, and keep peace within the family, because bad choice will be regretted when those loved ones are not around longer.
The idea of family is a central theme in Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun. Hansberry alludes to the Old Testament book of Ruth in her play to magnify “the value of having a home and family”(Ardolino 181). The Younger family faces hardships that in the moment seem to tear them apart from one another, but through everything, they stick together. The importance of family is amplified by the choices of Walter and Beneatha because they appear to initiate fatal cracks in the Younger family’s foundation, but Mama is the cement who encourages her family to pull together as one unit. The hardships of the family help develop a sense of unity for the Younger household.
In Stone Soup, Barbara Kingsolver interprets family as a foundation of love. In the beginning of Kingsolver’s essay shares an anecdote that takes place at a children’s soccer game. Andy, Kingsolver’s best friend’s son, has a cheering section and an undeniable love for Andy. She notices the family leap to their feet and hug each other for the child. The child’s family includes his mother, and her friends, his brother, his father and stepmother, a stepbrother and stepsister and a grandparent. Kingsolver’s essay, in a like manner, explicates that a family has a foundation of love.
Fromm discusses five types of love according to the kind of object of love: Brotherly Love, Motherly Love, Erotic Love, Self-Love, and Love of God. Out of all these, brotherly and motherly love have the similarities of both being within the family. However, they are vastly different in numerous portrayal. Fromm argues that brotherly love is made for all human beings and integrated into everyone’s personality. This type discusses the unity of all mankind and that one who loves, obtains brotherly love. With that being said, this category of love is inclusive of all forms of life and explains how this creates us to be “equal” with one another. To have compassion for one another constitutes accessibility to this brand of love, which is engraved in human beings.
Young people’s future and how they are going to act or communicate with other people they are going to meet in life are depend on their parental love. Parental love is really important for kids because it will shape them into who they are in the future. It gives the children the sense of love and how important it is to have someone take care for them. There are kids that do not know who their parents are or they do not get their parental love even though they live together. Some children resent their parents because their parents do not give them enough attention, time and care for them. They decided to spend their time on the street more than at home because they do not get enough attention from their parents. It’s the parental love that shapes kids into who they are, they want to be loved and care for, and who they want to be with.
The family is a societal institution which initiates the positive and negative process of social interactions between people. Over the last few decades what constitutes the family has changed all over the world. Family in today’s environment is diverse in nature and may go beyond the scope of parents and children. Families can consist of variations in relationships such as close relatives, stepparents, half siblings and extended non-biological family members. Normally, immediate family members live in the same house, nearby, until the child reaches a specified age and maturity to go into the world and start their own family. Most often members of the families have intimate and personal relationships with each other. Within the family there is a continuation of social interactions between members that can influence and shape peoples responses and reactions to their larger societies.
Family plays an enormous role in people’s lives, and whether we like it or not our family helps shape us into who we are today. Many families were torn apart during the perilous 2004 tsunami that shook the earth and acquired many lives. When Dang was running, trying to escape the colossal wave that was ravaging her village, all she could contemplate was how to get back to her family. She did not stop to help other people, because she wanted to make sure her husband and children were unscathed. At one point, Dang ignored the warnings of a man who saved her, only thinking that, “…she needed to get home, and she needed to get there now.”(Krauss 127) Family provides unconditional love for most, and that love is something that we cling to in a hard-hearted world. Furthermore, a mother’s love for her child is undying and genuine. Nearly all mothers would give their lives for their children without a second thought. When facing disaster our loved ones are there cheering us on and holding us together. Family keeps us moving forward, and helps us overcome and conquer our worst fears and hardships.
... the right thing. These families don’t always have to be blood-related, as there are many other “families” that people are parts of. Although different societies may provide a sense of love and belonging to a certain extent, the bonds between mother, and child, and husband and wife are significantly cherished and irreplaceable.