Living in Families Essay

How does the average mortal view the common family? In the picture of a happy family on commercials, impinge and hatred atomic number 18 replaced with sweetness and adoration qualities that are probable on the family members smiling nervuss. Pure happy days are just now not realistic. In real life, families permit good cause to bring down occasionally, which leads to a statement by the author Willa Cather about a family relationship.She comments that the seeded player of the family combat is from the clash of apiece members various(prenominal) personality, or identity. As one and only(a) builds own identity, there is no choice notwithstanding to struggle for likeable his or her ego to other family members even though they are a family who is supposed to understand and concede to one other, ideally speaking. Cather also says that family members take the sense of security from mutual existence, and they want to eschew from the restraint and contravene on individual privacy at the same time. Three work of literature which support Willa Cathers idea about family relationships are I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen, cardinal Kinds by Amy Tan, and lads Blues by James Baldwin. Through the eyes of these pieces, we stool see how the culture of identity causes infringes between family members. Ironically, they continue to pull outdoor(a) from from each one other even though they need each other. We should explore how the characters get over the sad necessity (Cather 107-120). Though the main conflict in I Stand Here Ironing doesnt expect to appear on the surface the author shows that the conflict occurs inside fabricators mind. When the bank clerk has Emily, her daughter, she is nineteen and it is the pre-relief, pre-WPA world of the depression (341). Living in the advanced era as a nineteen-year-old single become, she has to confront her new identity.In other words, there is a struggle between 2 identities inside her, as an individ ual who tries to survive in tough item and as a set out who tries to love her daughter. As she confesses that she was a flurry mother (345), her unstable identity does not allow her to take original care of Emily. This is the situation which Cather referred to as a ingeminate life (107-120). The narrator has suffered from the real life that stamps the faces and gives character to the voices of our fri completes (Cather 107-120). In laborious circumstances, her only family, Emily, is the reason why she is still alive, but also the burden from which she wants to escape. This is shown in what was in my face when I looked at her, the scene in which she realizes her frown face at her daughter saying there were all the acts of love (341). Because of her fearsome fate, the narrator unconsciously tries pulling outside(a) from her daughter even though she seeks to feel (Cather 107-120) maternal affection for Emily. This irony is represented by Cathers idea of the tragic necessity of h uman life (107-120). At the end of the story, the narrator shows her will to finish the conflict she has endured. According to Emily who never believed herself to be special, finds her identity and path, which concludes with her mother lightening the pressure about being a role of breeder by letting her be (345). Contrary to I Stand Here Ironing, the main conflict between family members in Two Kinds is revealed clearly it is about the relationship between a mother and daughter. The remnant of this story is that the basis of the conflict is a clash of devil polar cultures, which pile be interpreted as a clash of ii identities the Chinese mother who wants obedient daughter and the Americanized daughter, named mei, who wants to follow her own midriff (353).Her mothers wishful thinking is clear on this inverted comma you can be anything you want to be (346), which means actually you can be anything I want you to be. This attitude is very(prenominal) different from the mothers att itude in I Stand Here Ironing. On contrary to letting her be (345), Meis mother keeps get-up-and-go her daughter to do what she wants, not what her daughter wants this is Meis mothers personality. Meis response is I wont be what Im not (348). As a result, the conflict in this story is caused by the clash of individual identities, as Cather describes. Moreover, the trouble reaches a peak at their quarrel following the piano recital. In this scene, Mei pretends to pull away (Cather 107-120) from her mother by saying the head game words (353). What Mei says was not from the bottom of her heart it could be seen when Mei gets the piano as a sign of forgiveness (353), she feels proud, as if it were a shiny trophy (354). In other words, she cannot deny that she misses her family even though she wants to get away from them. After all, the daughter seeks to get out of the tragic necessity (Cather 107-120) by realizing that the two piano pieces pleading child and dead contented (354) is one song, which means that the pleading child has become short contented. Compared to the other two works above, the conflict in chaps Blues occurs between a sibling relationship, not between stir and child relationship as in the preceding examples. The origin of the conflict is the same the clash of identities. At the beginning of the story, the fact that the narrator, Sonnys fellow, gets Sonnys news from the newspaper shows that the relationship between two brothers is not secure their relationship as a family has already been pulled away (Cather 107-120).The reason why they have been separated from each other for a long time was the lack of comprehension of the others individual personality. To overcome the darkness outside (384), which describes the discrimination in that era, both brother have to develop their identities which helps them as they endure hardships. Unfortunately, the identities they developed are very different the narrator is practical and conservative, and Sonny is emotional and unconventional. The clash of the identities has change integrity the brothers and causes Sonny to pursue escaping, running away, and trying to break the net (Cather 107-120) which leads to his dependency to heroin. In fact, Sonny had always been a good boy (377) as a member of the family. In his subconscious, he had another secret, passionate and cold (Cather 107-120). Though the narrator tries to care for Sonny in order to do the promise made to his mother, He cannot understand Sonnys another (Cather 107-120) aspect. This conflict is the reason why they keep pulling away each other. Nevertheless, at the end of story, they get back together with perfect comprehension. auditory modality to Sonnys play, the narrator understands, at last (398), his brothers identity and why they were pulling away from each other he realizes that the root of the conflict the brothers had was not because of Sonnys rebellion but of his own misunderstanding of the suffering Sonn y has endured. The brothers prepare to overcome the tragic necessity, which initially separated them, with a Scotch and milk (399) in the end. In conclusion, through the analysis of the three works of literature, Willa Cathers idea of the double life and tragic necessity of human relationship (107-120) can be seen as a universal theme in various stories. The development of identity causes the conflicts between family members, and the irony is that they continue to pull away from each other even though they need each. In Cathers view, family members have a chance to overcome the conflicts they have had, as demonstrated by the narrator of I Stand Here Ironing, Mei from Two Kinds, and Sonnys brother from Sonnys Blues. Each character gets the better of his or her own conflicts to a certain extent. As they should families are supposed to stick together.ReferencesCather, Willa. Katherine Mansfield. Willa Cather on Writing. Lincoln, NE University of Nebraska Press, 1988. 107-120.Schilb, Jo hn, and Clifford, John. Making publications Matter. Boston, MA Bedford/St. Martins, 2006