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In this paper, I will be exploring the concluding result of a situation in which a parent shadows their own child's life, restricting them from exploring the world, thus never having the opportunity to learn from their mistakes


When one looks at the black sheep of the family, the rest of the group looks at that one person in a bad or disobedient way, which in some cases may be true; yet this is certainly not the case with the story told by Claudia Brinson in “Einstein’s Daughter”. Here, the black sheep, which we see early on is the main character, recognizes that the slow paced, past dwelling lifestyle that she is to maintain and brought up in is slowing her and the rest of her family down in the long run. She sees how both her mother and grandmother are adamant about taking things slow, being extremely cautious, not trusting anyone, and not taking any chances in life. This is the protagonist’s primary motivation to stray as far away from her family and their similar personalities as possible. When parents deny their children’s expression of personality, the long-term effect is the production of rebellion and resistance toward the harshly conditioned life style.
In the story the main character is brought up under strict authority and control, which is exactly what is keeping her from breaking from the strong hold her mother is setting upon her. At any given time when the protagonist begins to stray too far from her mother’s expectations or, from the mother’s point of view is “moving too fast”, the reality is that the daughter is merely living the everyday-life of a maturing young girl; yet her mother will be quick to strike her down in any way. This same situation can be seen in the mother’s childhood. She mentions that she once attempted to fly, then later speaks of her nose being broken from an apple falling and hitting her from an apple tree. She then points out that these actions were a result of her trying to move faster than...