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The Chrysanthemums And Teenage Wasteland

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The Consequences of Dysfunctional Family Relationships

An intimate home life can serve as a haven in a chaotic and confusing world. On the other hand, a dysfunctional family can serve as a source of insecurity and distrust. Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” and Tyler’s “Teenage Wasteland” prove that families who fail to spend quality time with each other and show physical affection develop lukewarm and strained relationships. These short stories model how weak and disconnected relationships arise through a lack of quality family time and physical affection within a family.
Elisa and Henry’s relationship in “The Chrysanthemums” is lukewarm and strained, caused by a lack of spending quality time together as a husband and wife. Living alone …show more content…

The Coble family is too busy to spend time together. Their schedule is so tight they do not have time to even eat supper as a family. Daisy takes Donny to his evening tutoring sessions three times a week leaving Amanda sitting at the dinner table, still finishing her dessert (Tyler 188). Daisy is so preoccupied trying to fix Donny’s problems that she forgets to invest in her daughter’s life. “‘You’ll never guess what happened at...’ Amanda would begin, and Daisy would have to tell her, ‘Not now, honey’” (Tyler 187). At the conclusion of the story, Tyler reveals that “Donny’s sister seems to be staying away from home as much as possible” (Tyler 192). Daisy and Matt treat Donny with the same neglect. After a tutoring session, Donny plays basketball while Matt and Daisy watch (Tyler 190), making no effort to play with their son or invest in his interests. Daisy and Matt are so wrapped up in Donny’s problems that they do not take the time to listen to their son and understand him. Starving for a caring and encouraging relationship, Donny finds a friend in his tutor Cal. When Donny is expelled, he goes straight to Cal instead of his family because he feels Cal understands him and cares about him (Tyler 191). When she first learns Donny’s grades are suffering, Daisy invests hours into her son’s education to help him

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