Harmony at Home: The Myth of the Model American Family - Essay Example

?HARMONY AT HOME: THE MYTH OF THE MODEL AMERICAN FAMILY Teacher’s Today’s and Period Assignment Harmonyat Home: The Myth of the Model American Family Families form the basis of society. Strong and supportive families give rise to strong and supportive societies. With time the concept of family has evolved. There was a time when extended relations were considered and treated as part of the family, as depicted in Norman Rockwell’s, ‘freedom from want’ (Heydt); but with time only parents and children became considered to be as comprising a family like depicted by the Norman Rockwell’s painting ‘freedom from fear’ (Esaak). The current American white family is an excellent example of the modern nuclear family with least dependence on the extended family; and the Africans, Latinos and Hispanics residing in America still depend on their extended families for emotional, financial and child care support (He, Sengupta, Velkoff & DeBarros 27). Contrary to general belief that modern nuclear families tend to be the most supportive, Gerstel and Sarkisian in ‘The colour of family ties’, try to portray a different picture; exerting that colored families signify a better representation of family support. The authors in ‘color of family ties’ found that ‘Social class rather than cultures is the key to understanding the differences in extending family ties and behaviors between whites and ethnic minorities’ (Gerstel and Sarkisian 450). Gary Soto in ‘Looking for work’ also presents its readers with a brilliant example of family support and cooperation among colored families. ‘Looking for work’ depicts a family that is far more financially supportive than the white nuclear families or the family depicted in ‘An Indian Story’ by Roger Jack. Sotto depicts a family that is living day-in and day-out through the same financial conditions. The life is seen though the eyes of a Mexican child, who gets his ideas of a perfect life from watching the program ‘Father knows best’ and ‘Leave it to beaver’. Believing that money can solve all their problems and make them happy and accepted by the society like in the TV program (rpr190); he does jobs for people, cleaning their gardens and flower beds, in the hope to earn that extra ‘dime that would end the day right’ (Soto 4). The child also has a limited view of being wealthy due to his circumstances as the child says that ‘I decided to become wealthy, and right away! After downing a bowl of cereal, I took a rake from the garage and started up the block to look for work’ (Soto 1). He believes that by working hard doing petty jobs he can change the circumstances of his family and that too quickly. The father in ‘an Indian story’ ‘makes good money’ (Jack 453) due to which the author is not worried about any financial problems and does not address the financial condition further. The family in ‘Looking for work’ supports each other through rough and lonely times. The mother of the three children does not marry and prefers taking care of the children herself, so that they may not suffer any trauma. The father in an Indian story remarries despite the fact that his new wife has a son and both the step brothers fight a lot. The writer says that ‘he married a half-breed Indian and this made me feel very uncomfortable’ (Jack 454). The child although is disturbed by his mother’s death, the father remarries thinking only of himself, and the child is also not happy with his father’s remarriage. The lack of understanding and consideration on the part of his father makes the boy run away from his home. The family in ‘looking for work’, have come to celebrate each day and every meal they get, although it is the same meal. They are not bothered about the heat and dismal conditions in which they live, they celebrate the family being together at meal times. As the child says that, ‘we sat to eat our beans and tortillas in the stifling heat of our kitchen. We all gleamed like cellophane, wiping the sweat from our brows with the backs of our hands as we talked about the day’ (Soto 1). The family does not care that about anything as long as they are together. The children and mother share everything they have done during the day, and communication is the key to strong families; as happened later on in ‘an Indian story’, when the son and father start communicating with each other, their relationship strengthens. Aunt Greta also uses travelling and spending time together to get to know jack better (Jarrod). The child in ‘Looking for work’ tries to become a father figure for his siblings and gets his ideas of that father figure by watching ‘Father knows best’. The writer gets his sense of appropriateness, organization, dressing and cleanliness from the perfect white families shown on TV (inventingalexisr). He tries to guide his siblings in how to dress and behave; he says that, ‘I tried to convince them that if we improved the way we looked we might get along better in life. White people would like us more’ (Soto 3). The book shows that how desperate the child is to improve their circumstances and earn the approval of society at large. The family may not agree with the ideas of the child but they respect him and still show support for him in an effort to maintain a loving and cooperative balance in the family (inventingalexisr). On the contrary the writer even though has a father yet he cannot communicate with him and has a communication gap with him. Even when he decides that he wants to move in with his aunt Greta he does not communicate this directly to his father rather his aunt informs his father of this, ‘Aunt Greta told him what I had told her about my wanting to move in with her’ (Jack 454). The family depicted in ‘looking for work’ reflects a more considerate approach towards each other and that can be felt in their minute gestures towards each other. When the writer’s brother suggests ‘that he has made a life preserver out of four empty detergent bottles strung together with twine and that he will make me one if I can find more bottles. “No way are we going to drown” (Soto 3). The siblings are concerned about each other and do not hesitate in sharing with each other, they have learnt to watch out for each other. They sort out their disagreements by communicating and talking about their disagreements. When the writer’s siblings get angry at his suggestion of dressing properly at the dinner table, he talks to them about it that why he feels that way and soon his ‘brother’s mood lightened’ (Soto 3), and they forgot about their worries. Unlike in ‘an Indian story’, in which the child runs away from his home when he encounters problems, as the writer says that ‘I'd get into trouble because I was older and was supposed to know better than to misbehave. I ran away from home one day when everyone was gone’ (Jack 454). When the writer goes to jail for drinking and fighting and has to be bailed out by Aunt Greta, she is very angry with him, and stops talking to the writer. The writer tells his father that ‘she clammed up on me…..she wouldn't say anything’ (Jack 457). The writer is bothered by this attitude and looks for solace, companionship and answers in his father. Youngsters need solace, comfort and understanding by their elder when confronted by problems, but that does not seem to be the case in this family. The family ties shown and depicted in ‘looking for work’ are an illustration of the excellent cooperation and supportive relationships. The mother and children in the family are keen on understanding and helping each other. They know and understand their circumstances and try to improve those circumstances while respecting and loving each other. They are thankful to their mother for providing them with food every day, even though it is the same meal, and do not complain about it or even the fact that they do not formal desserts and have to pick peaches from trees to eat something sweet. References Esaak, S. Freedom From Want, 1943. Homepage. 16 February. 2013 Gerstel, N. and Natalia Sarkisian. The Color Of Family Ties: Nuclear Family Values, Extended Family Lives: The Importance of Gender, Race, and Class. New York; Routledge ,2012. He, W., Sengupta, M., Velkoff, Victoria, A. and Kimberly A. DeBarros. Current Population Reports Special Studies. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Commerce. 16 February. 2013 Heydt, B. Norman Rockwell and the Four Freedoms. Homepage. 16 February. 2013 Inventingalexisr. “Monday, February 13, 2012.” “Looking for Work” by Gary Soto. Homepage. 16 February 2013 Jack, R. An Indian Story. 16 February 2013 Jarrod. “Wednesday, October 13, 2004.” Summary and Evaluation of an Indian Story. Homepage. 16 February 2013 Rpr190. “January 19, 2010.” Reading 4 “Looking For Work” by Gary Soto. Homepage. 16 February. 2013 Soto, G. Looking For Work. 16 February. 2013 Velasquez, A. “Saturday, October 31, 2009.” The Color of Family Ties: Race, Class, Gender and Extended Family Involvement. Velasqan. 16 February. 2013 Read More