The Shelter Of Each Other By Mary Pipher

Stephanie Coontz is a teacher, historian, author and a scholar activist. She has also very indulged in the world of public debate on families, this mostly due possible because of her extensive skills to study modern families as well as historical patterns. In her book The Way We Never Were, Coontz presents a historical look at the family and how it has changed over time. Her interest in the subject comes for her need to understand how families functioned in the past and present, and what lead to notion and definition of family nowadays.

Part one of the book introduced the family concept of private and public with an overview of the family dynamic and its history. The first chapter begins with its main key point of defining, what the author Cherlin’s terms, public and private family. He defines the public family as a one or two adult relationship which could be held by marriage, partnership, or shared parenthood that is responsible for the care of dependents, and the dependents themselves. Cherlin includes the elderly in the term of dependent. In my family’s case my household is a married two adult relationship with two children dependents, however my brother is divorced and living with my epileptic mother and her cohabitating boyfriend, who is the father of my youngest brother. He goes on to define the private family as two or

In today’s society, family is often attempted to be organized within a social structure. Within this structure family typically is consisted of mom, dad, daughter, and son. However, many families do not fit into this configuration. These families may include same sex couples, separated or divorced families, extended families, or even blended families. Even though these families may be happy and healthy, to many they are not considered real families. Going along with the topic of imperfect families, both Barbara Kingsolver and Richard Rodriguez try to break down the traditional family structure through their writing. While Kingsolver’s “Stone Soup” and Rodriguez’s “Family Values” explore the ideas of different family structures and traditional American values, “Stone Soup” breaks down what an actual family is like while “Family Values” expresses the value of family in different cultures.

     Furthermore, assumptions about divorce may be primarily be connected to the idea that happy homes create happy children whereas, unhappy, separated homes create the children to have problems. Moreover, what should be taken into account is that children learn what they live and that parents are role models. Not only do parents create the ideal of a good work ethic, skills, communication, logic but also commitment. In relation, the cycle of abuse also may be taught to a child. If a child sees abuse in the home he or she is more likely to exhibit the same actions compared to children from non - violent environments. Parents are still the bearers of large responsibilities according to their children and cannot just blame it on the media any longer. Although divorce is seen by many Americans as an unfortunate ending to a chapter in life, many still make the choice.

The emphasis on individualism has provoked a deeper inspection of one’s personal values and beliefs while feminism has opened the door for a new type of traditional family to emerge with new dynamics between parents, children and their roles within the home. These new dynamics merge right along with cultural values as the two merge. In America, life is varied from home to home with different culturally-influenced family values. While throughout other parts of the world, different countries have maintained a balance within a core value system that affects all families alike through religion and a national way of life. There is no doubt that the many varied factors of modern society, ethnic background and religion all play significant roles in forming family values that shape the life of an

This paper looks at the effects of divorce on children based on the application of various psychological developmental theories. More specifically, children within the age groups of 4 to 6 and 7 to 11 will be taken into account. The theories explored and applied will include Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, Erikson’s psychosocial tasks, Bowlby’s attachment theory, Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory, Bandura’s social learning theory and Vygotsky’s, and later Bronfenbrenner’s, ecological or developmental systems approach.

The Revolution released the potential for America to become very democratic; allowing space for political and social struggles to spread ideas of freedom and challenge the old way of doing things. Ideas of liberty invigorated attacks on both British and domestic American foundations and so did the beliefs of equality in the Declaration of Independence, which caused many in society who were seen as the substandard bunch such as women, slaves and free blacks to question the sanction of their superiors.

The undying will of friendship can be seen as more powerful than love, but Finny and Gene base this powerful connection for their own benefit instead. A Separate Peace begins with Gene and Phineas attending a private school called Devon in 1942. Gene lacks self fulfillment and looks to Finny for help. John Knowles presents Gene as a symbol of struggle of emotions because he is affected by the war. Gene uses Finny as a way to subside his upsetting past, and thinks of everything as a competition. Because of this thriving passion to have Finny's instincts, their relations are based on a friendship at which only Gene will benefit from. This takes their friendship to a complex level, as there are not only one but two wars. World War 2 and Gene's war with himself show how the turmoil of war destroys relationships.

Can you predict if it was the last day of your childhood and freedom? Lucia and her family couldn 't. Lucy Lipiner’s haunting memoir “Long Journey Home” documents when Nazis invade their homeland and forced them to flee away and find shelter. With limited options on where to go, their family stays together throughout the strenuous journey to find safety throughout Europe to America. This memoir tells in detail the mental and physical struggle to get to safety and freedom. Even when tumultuous events occur, you still have a chance to become resilient no matter what circumstances. To illustrate this theme, Lucy Lipiner uses extensive imagery.

Within the essay, Hilfer uses many supports to defend the claim mentioned above. While ethos, pathos, and logos are all utilized as supports, there is a greater focus on ethos and logos, with a more diminutive approach to using an emotional appeal. Based upon his claim, this is the most effective way to argue. To begin, when Hilfer states that after two years, those who have divorced and their children are able to adjust, it stands alone as effective support. But to further the understanding of the audience, Hilfer states that 80% of the children of divorcees are able to adjust to

To begin, I will be discussing money, one of the many themes in “The Living is Easy” by Dorothy West. This book is about a woman named Cleo, who grew up in an upper-class African American family. Cleo was always into the business world ever since she was a little girl. She moved to Boston and married Bart Judson also known as “The black banana king.” They have one daughter named Judy. Bart owned business that he transported bananas. He was a very productive and wealthy man, but when things took a turn for the worst, he had lost all his money leaving Cleo with the remains of it. Their marriage was solely based on money, while Cleo sisters, Charity, Lily, and Serena had it differently. They loved their husbands, so much that money was not a necessary object, and no money was involved. The sisters had visited Cleo without their spouses for most of the book making their mindsets change as well as their attitudes towards their husbands. This mindset has shown the many problems with Bart Judson’s money and revealed how careless the characters can be.

The upbringing of a child is no small task. Parents have the responsibility to form a loving relationship with their child and raise the child to be a functional adult. Unfortunately, many times parents do not see the need to have these close relationships with their offspring. A perfect example of the negative effects that this neglect can have on the child can be found in the book “Speak”. Even though Melinda's parents showed her attention at times, Melinda's detached family life caused her to develop more slowly in a social aspect, made it difficult for her to form relationships, and has slowed her recovery from sexual assault.

Through out this discussion the reader has seen the effects of divorce on children. These effects are primarily shown in three areas of the childrens lives. These three areas are emotionally, physically, and

Functionalist view emphasizes the contribution it makes to overall social stability. The divorce can actually benefit the child in several ways. If the parents were being abusive to one another and/or to the children involved prior to the divorce chances are the divorce will result in less fighting/arguing among the parents which in return would result in a better environment for the child. In some cases if a parent is abusing alcohol or drugs and it leads to the divorce, removing the child from that type of environment will ultimately help the child. In some cases the parents eventually remarry and those marriages can either be successful, or in some cases those marriages might also result in another

Kelly (2003) is critical of some early literature by Wallerstein and Blakeslee (1989), arguing that these were biased and influenced public perception, with a ‘persistent emphasis on pathology’ (Kelly 2003, p 240). Other studies on divorce are more robust and ‘challenged the belief that divorce alone was the cause of children’s poor well being’ Kelly (2003 p.240) citing Cherlin et al (1991). This may account for the greater acceptance of the variety of modern families. Because divorce is so common, children no longer wish to be typecast as ‘children of divorce’ (Flowerdew & Neale, 2003, p. 158). It is these stigmas that could have negative connotations for the child as well as the parent; these stigmas in themselves may prevent children from adjusting if they feel that they are being judged.