Her husband left early on in Emily’s life and her mother was forced to leave her with friends or send her to day care. “…and I did not know then what I know now- the fatigue of the long day, and the lacerations of group life in the kinds of nurseries that are only parking places for children” (Olsen 707). Emily got nowhere near the amount of attention she needed. Maggie, on the other hand, was always with her mother. Maggie’s mother was also older and better suited to be a mother because she was older and more experienced however, Maggie’s father also left the family.
You could tell Lily was afraid of her father, seeing how she hesitated to tell him about events such as her birthday. Lily was also born and raised in rags, since her mother died when Lily was at a young age. After her mother died, Lily was stranded with a confused and angry father, and had to sew her own clothes, since it is all she had. These two stories already look the same, and both are only a fraction of the way in. Huck’s life was extremely terrible until he starting living with the Widow Douglas, which is the equivalent of when Lily went to live with the Boatwright sisters.
She never learned to be self-reliant. The case of the Walls family is a perfect demonstration of how adversity in one’s life does in fact play a role in the development of their character. Their whole life, Lori, Jeannette, and Brian had to take care of themselves. Some days they would go without food and were forced to eat nothing but butter and sugar because their dad could never hold on to a job for very long and their mother refused to get one because she only wanted to pursue her dream to become an artist. As young kids, when they didn’t have any food, Jeannette would “find something in some other kid’s lunch bag” (Walls 68) at school or “grab something out of the refrigerator” (Walls 68) when visiting a friend’s house.
The parents Rex and Rose Mary both are unemployed most of the book and can’t provide for their children. In the book, Rex spends the money that he could be using to support his family on alcohol. Also Rose Mary proclaims many of times that he is done being a parent and wants people to take care of her from now on. This shows that Rose Mary is giving up on the children and wants the children to take of her instead. In this case, If parent licenses were implemented by now, Rose Mary would not pass because she shows lack of commitment throughout the book.
Mothers get upset with this because they know that a child needs a father in their life. Wives get lonely. Not only must the father be there for the child but the father must be there for the wife. Wives get sad when they do not get to see their husbands. Most workaholics are in marriages that have been going on for many years, and this lack of attention has been hurting their wife for majority of the relationship.
She would give her child to servants to hold and never cared for her. When Johanna’s first son was born, she was delighted. Unfortunately for Johanna, her first son died at a young age. Catherine felt resentment towards her brother and did not care for his death. Johanna then pushed insults on Catherine constantly.
For example when Kareem, her husband, and the family's servant Attiyat, immediately left the house to perform the tasks for the day ahead, the main character finds her in tears. This could be a symbol of the feeling of her internal loneliness. All her children have grown to reach the age where independence, self-centered personalities, upbringing of a young family, and preoccupation in one's studies, were the root to each of their lives. In addition to her realizations, "the relationship between their father and I no longer contained that essential ingredient of marriage." (p.18).
Esther’s mother fails to understand Esther and has led a difficult life. She has had to raise two children all alone and struggled to support them when they were mere children. Joan was Esther’s companion when she was in the mental hospital, whom she did not like very much, but connected to her greatly. Esther grew up with her brother and her mother, and has graduated from her junior year in college. Esther struggles with herself between uncertainty and unreality with all that is going around her.
Chris Gardner the main character in the movie has a young son and a wife. Chris and his wife always fight about the rent and bills. They are a poor family leaving in an apartment and cannot afford to pay the rent. They have to sell at least two x-ray machines a month to pay off parking tickets, bills, and rent. The wife ends up leaving Chris and his son because they are unable to afford everything and there is too much arguing, therefore they are not meant for each other.
I myself had to make this decision to return or not to work on February 9, 1979 when my son was born. I made the decision return to work after my son was born. Many people feel a mother should be at home with her child instead of working. Many families’ make the decision for mom to return to the working world due to these reasons’ income, self-esteem of mom, and the relationship with the child. Income has always been a concern for families and losing one income can be devastating to a family, and on the other hand there is the single mother that really does not have a choice, but to go to work and support her child.