Forgiveness In Families And A Visit To Grandmother

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There are a significant variety of causes for family turmoil and the most devastating ones spawn from internal affairs. In the stories A Visit to Grandmother’s by William Melvin Kelley and Forgiveness In Families by Alice Munro, the younger brothers surpass the stereotype of typical annoying little siblings and manage to cause a family dispute of such magnitude that even their own mothers are not able to fix it. Moreover, the mothers are completely oblivious to the ongoing affect their sons have on their older siblings. However, since every family has different mechanics, priorities, etc, the outcome of each seemingly hopeless scenario is surprisingly different. Cam from Forgiveness In Families and GL from A Visit To Grandmother’s each start as the main cause of disagreement within their respected families and each experiences a unique outcome to the story. Cam and GL share many aspects; they never cease to delight their mothers- whilst being despised by their older siblings- yet when all hope seems lost only Cam’s older sibling, Val, is able to respect him and again, mending his family’s dispute. Cam and GL live carefree lives that are seen as unproductive and useless to everyone except their loving mothers; who believe they can do no wrong. Even though GL is unreliable and unpredictable, his mother still fondly states, “Can’t never tell where that man is at. One Thursday morning he left here and next thing we knew, he was calling from Chicago, saying he went up to see Joe Louis fight,” (10) and simply refuses to acknowledge his wrongs; after all men in their thirties should be able to take responsibility for their own actions. Comparably, Cam’s mother makes up excuses for his life-wasting actions also, stating when Cam quits his job and begins to watch endless movie on end that “Sitting in movies [is] better than sitting in beer parlors,”(40) and proceeds to

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