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Family Life Cycle Essay

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Road Ends There are moments in life that society portrays as phases or experiences in which most and predicted to go. These moments are referred to as stages, by theoretical approaches, that are predicted as normative events. The “Family Life Cycle” approach suggest that families have life courses with predictable stages that are identified by normative events. Though, non-normative events that are not often experienced by families can take a different toll on one's life. In the story, “Road Ends”, by Mary Lawson, is a prime example of
Family Life Cycle”. Lawson portrays a distinct family structure, each following a different path, with independent experiences, leading in life changing experiences. Through analyzing the characters …show more content…

Megan’s implying that felt as if she was held back by this stage, or event in her life, and wanted to get it over with. This step is a very personal step yet it is normative and everyone at some point experiences, whether it's through marriage or before that it's a significant event. The second character Displayed significance to demonstrating “Family Life Cycle” approach is Tom, Although Tom’s experience is the opposite of Megan’s, instead of it being positive change it became negative. Tom had a non-normative event occur in his life with the death of his friend Robert, who committed suicide after and accident occured by hitting a little girl with his car and killed her, he than felt very guilty, not having to go to jail either he took his own life, “Robert had stepped off the cliff...Kill himself virtually in front of you”, (page 91) This event placed a huge impact on Tom’s life, the loss of a friend is not a normal event, this is a non-normative event that does not occur often. An event the most families do not experience as it has a very large impact on on someone's life. This event scarred Tom and put him in a position where he is not very comfortable has to think about often. Tom Demonstrates this later in the book when “A mouse drowned in the honey...Death again. It followed him

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