Robert Bly 's Influence On American Literature

In present-day society, families go through several problems and arguments regarding numerous issues which would have been considered unacceptable in past times. Throughout a variety of different cultures, the level of respect and obedience for one’s parents has diminished while the negotiation of conformity and rebellion has risen. This statement is supported and evidential in two different stories, “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan and “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker. Although these stories represent different cultures, they both exemplify the values and importance of family relations; as well as demonstrate in every culture families face social problems. In both these stories, two major topics stood out which allowed me to compare each one to one

The story I chose to analyze is “Why I Live at the P.O.” by Eudora Welty. The author, Eudora Wetly, is originally from Mississippi from a prosperous family, she was born in 1909 and passed away in 2001.During her early days she worked at small places involved with writing until she launched her literary career. ‘Why I Live at the P.O’ is about sibling rivalry and favoritism among family. My thesis states that this story shows a good example of favoritism among families and good insight from the outcast.

Though the family did not turn to violence like the Misfit, they still had their own set of issues. The other members of the family seem to be embodiments of society’s most self-interested and materialistic. O’Connor illustrates that with each generation of this family, there were no positive role models. Each generation had no effective parent to exhibit the correct way to function in society. Each generation then was stuck in

¨Parents act so strong for us, that we often forget just how fragile they are.¨ As we grow we often find ourselves not spending as much of our free time with our parents as we had when we could barely speak a sentence without having bad grammar. This maturing state is something all of us experience. We become more interactive with sports, friends, relationships, and we forget who gave us this wonderful life. In the following stories of ¨ The Passage¨, ¨Through the Tunnel¨ , and ¨American History¨ the author utilizes dialogue to indicate the disconnection from their parents in the journey to adulthood.

In both short stories, it is evident that aged traditions possess the capability to construct barriers between the strong bonds existent in families. Traditions have the ability to turn

“From a scene of constraint and confinement, ill-suited to my years and inclination, I have just launched into society. My heart beats high in expectation of its fancied joys. My sanguine imagination paints, in alluring colors, the charms of youth and freedom, regulated by virtue and innocence. Of these, I wish to partake. While I own myself under obligations for the esteem which you are pleased to profess for me, and in return, acknowledge, that neither your person nor manners are disagreeable to me, I recoil at the thought of immediately forming a connection, which must confine me to the duties of domestic life, and make me dependent for happiness, perhaps too, for subsistence, upon a class of people, who will claim the right of scrutinizing every part of my conduct; and by censuring those foibles, which I am conscious of not having prudence to avoid, may render me completely miserable” (Foster, 29).

Families are organized with fathers as the figures in control and the mothers are subordinate to them. Mothers, however, take compete charge of the children, and so from a child’s point of view, mothers appear to be authority figures as well. Children are obligated to respect and obey these authoritative figures. (p. 103)

From an early age, our society begins to construct gender identities. Males are pressed to learn “suitable” gender roles in accordance to the masculine expectations our society has created. This means from a very early age boys are taught what it means to be a man. Porter’s way to explain masculine socialization is through what is known as the “man box.” Inside the box is a list of socially valued expectations that compose what manhood is about. The box includes expectations/guidelines such as, “don’t cry or openly express emotions (with the exception of anger), do not show weakness or fear, demonstrate power control especially over women (aggression dominance), be a protector, do not be “like a woman,” be heterosexual, do not be “like a gay man,” be tough, athletic, and strong, do not need help, and view women as property/objects.” This idea of manhood is instilled in young boys head and continues to stay with them for the rest of their lives. A fear

“Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk” (Susan Scarf Merrell).Merrell, an American author and a creative writing and literature teacher at Stony Brook Southampton, states that since the early days of your youth to the end of our story our siblings are there throughout our whole journey. Life is like a play; parents pass on during the first half; while ones children come in during the second half; but siblings are there throughout both acts. Tobias Wolff’s, The Rich Brother, portrays the relationship between two brothers that are complete opposites; yet they know each other’s strengths and weaknesses better than anyone else will ever be able. Tobias Wolff makes use of pathos and

society with those of the 21st Century to highlight the extreme involvement of parents in

Cicerelli, V. (1991) Sibling relationships in middle and old age. In G.H. Brody (Ed) Sibling relationships: Their causes and consequences, 47-73. Norwood, N.J: Ablex.

American literature 1865-1914 is an American literary time period that began in 1865 and ended in 1914. This time period was flourished by three distinct features and the first of these features is: The Aftermath of the Civil War. It is estimated that a total of 620,000 Americans were killed in the Civil War, and for what? At the time, we were an America that was divided by one huge issue that ran supreme and it was slavery and the unequal treatment of African Americans. At this time the nation needed to figure a way to unite the North who were against slavery and the South who were for slavery. As Abraham Lincoln says in our Bedford Anthology of American Literature: “No one man has authority to give up the rebellion for any other man, we simply must begin with, and mould from, disorganized and discordant elements,” (4). He is saying that we must not start a new, but rather we need to start from what we had and mould and shape our country into one. Prior to the Civil War, America was not a whole, it was ruled by states’ rights and was divided on countless issues, and when referring to America, people said the United States are… It wasn’t until under President Lincoln, and concluding the Civil War that the United States began to be referred to as the United States is.. Honest Abe, brought our nation together as one, but the racial tension that remained was something one man can never fix. The literature around this time period was dominated by ideas and feelings circled

"I think there 's just one kind of folks. Folks" (Lee 304). Harper Lee is one of America 's most famous and beloved writers of her time. She has inspired people with her unique down-to-earth writing voice and her presentation of the rawness of people and life in general. Because of Harper Lee, America has learned to appreciate the differences in others from ourselves because "you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view" (Lee 39).

Many youth receive the impression that their early life is not designed for care-taking, but to be frittered away in idle sport, in jesting, in joking, and in foolish indulgences. While engaged in folly and indulgences of the senses, some think of nothing but the momentary gratification connected with it. Their desire for amusement, their love for society and for chatting and laughing, increases by indulgence, and they lose all relish for the sober realities of life, and home duties seem uninteresting. There is not enough change to meet their minds, and they become restless, peevish, and irritable. These young men should feel it a duty to make home happy and cheerful. . . . pg. 339

Have you ever felt that your parents are too stringent or too demanding? Imagine being in a society where you are assigned a role in society the moment you are born. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, characterization is used to demonstrate a parent's refusal to change old tradition causes a lost on kinship with their children.