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Alice Walker 's Everyday Use

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Family, is a word that is familiar to everyone, but may have different meanings for each individual. It is most commonly seen as a group consisting of parents and children. Family can be defined not just through blood but through love and commitment as well. In our readings this semester, one of the frequent themes has been about family. The unconditional love found in a family does not prevent them from experiencing difficult dilemmas. Families can have powerful influences on an individual being either positive, negative, or even both. The influences brought on by families can give a sense to someone as more of a positive feeling such as, attachment, love, and thrill, or a sense more negative such as pain, anger, and guilt, or, can even…show more content…
In Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papas Waltz”, the dance between the father and son can be viewed from a loving perspective or a fearful one. The reader can perceive the dance more through a loving scene from the boy with him saying, “But I hung on like death” (p. 264). This illustrates the son persisted on the attachment to his father as they danced along. The family times spent with his father meant a lot to him, even if it may have been rough. The same attachment toward someone can be seen in Anne Tyler’s book, Saint Maybe.
After Ian found an abandoned cat outside, he had a thought come to him and pictured Agatha, Thomas, and Daphne abandoned on the side of the rode bunched together. He pictured them as the cat with having fear in their eyes, while in the distance he was disappearing (p. 190). Ian couldn’t see his self not being without the kids as he describes, “But then immediately afterward, he felt such a deep sense of loss that it made his breath catch” (p. 190). The attachment he has for Agatha, Thomas, and Daphne he couldn’t let go of, because of the influencing feeling they gave, completing his family. In addition to having a sense of attachment, love can change someone’s outlook toward their family, giving a heartening feeling. Expressing love towards someone is a great impact on a person’s family. The feeling of love Mama described toward Maggie saying, “When I looked at her like
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