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The Power Of Power In Parent Night By Katherine Min's 'Parents Night'

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What is power? Is it limited, or does everyone have power? The majority of people have some sort of power, whether it be over themselves or others, but very little power over who they are and who they become. The stories “Parents Night” by Nancy Garden and “Blonde” by Katherine Min show how people have very little power over themselves. In “Parent’s Night”, a young girl's struggles to find acceptance in her family on her sexuality. She has to decide whether to believe herself or believe her parents. A very similar but different story “Blonde”, is about another young girl who struggles with her appearance. Her parents are not very supportive of what she wants, and it seems like she is hopeless. She struggles with her own beliefs and what …show more content…

And you are going to drop out of that-that organization. If I have to take you out of that school and send you to another, I will’ He stormed out of the room” (140). Similarly, this quote also uses “have to”. This is a very strong phrase because it shows that Karens Dad has very strong feelings about changing her school. He feels so strongly about this, that if his daughter disagrees with him, he will do everything it takes to change her mind, even if it means changing her school to do so. By changing Karen's school, he is showing that what Karen believes is bad and that she should change her mind. This means that Karens Dad can control which sports, clubs, schools etc. Karen goes to, which can define who she is. The power that Karen's parents have leaves her with almost no power over who she is and who she will become.

Karen is not the only one who has very little power over who she will become. In “Blonde”, Jean also has very little power over her life. Jean so desperately wants to be blonde. She even studies her friend, who is blonde, so she can “act” like a blonde. Her fascination of being blonde does not stop there. Jean explains, “That the dazzling blonde I was could be undercovered by a surgeon’s blade... [That underneath my skin] was a girl of pure gold, Goldilocks or Shirley Temple, Even, one day perhaps, Marilyn Monroe”(1-2). This implies that Jean knows the famous blonde celebrities and wants to be like them.

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