How does stress affect the characters' s in The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings in a few ways - Essay Example

Causes of stress are not universal to everyone. What stresses one may not stress another (Kopolow 17). Therefore, stress can be defined as responding to body demands that are not specific. The basic way to respond to stress involves three stages, which includes sensitization, resistance, and lastly exhaustion. To apply this it takes self effort to manage stress. This can be done through physical practices to ease your nerves and release pressure through exercise like running. It can also be done by sharing with friends, understanding your limits, taking good care of yourself, setting aside time just to have fun as it is important as doing work, participating in various activities to avoid boredom, assigning tasks to avoid being overworked, accepting correction, and sometimes crying if it is necessary to release your stress (Hemmings 45).

The effect of stress have been demonstrated in the novel The Descendants through the various characters in the book. This is clear in the main character of the book, Matt, who is majorly faced by family stress. From the book, it is evident that stress has had adverse effects to most of characters including Matt himself, however, in the end it turns out to transform Matt into a likable character (Kopolow 17). The Descendants is a book that talks of a story in the palace. Matt King a land owner in Hawaii from the royalty of Hawaii.

He faces stress from the accident of her wife in a boat race and later on he realizes that her wife, Joanie, has been having extramarital affairs with Brian in the process of providing a chance for friends to bid Joanie goodbye. Joanie had been responsible of the kids and after her demise, Matt is faced with the challenge of handling his children, Alex and Scottie, as a single father. The two daughters are sturbon in their own way, one is a drug addict and the other a sturbon girl that displays unpleasant messages to her friends.

Despite all this causes of stress to Matt, he still manages to be dilligent with his business and career, as well as managing and rebuilding his family. The story starts with stressing events that touch most of the characters. However, towards the end, the story manages to have a happy ending as we see the family of Matt uniting together especially after the death of Joanie, the wife to Matt and the mother to Alex and Scottie. Kaui Hemmings begins the book by introducing Matt king who narrates the entire story.

He is in a hospital where his wife, Joanie, lies in a coma. She is described to be once enthusiastic, and ecstasy-seeking is in a coma at the hospital after an accident in a boat race accident. This is one of the causes of stress to Matt as it gives him worry about the health of his wife (Hemmings 45). Matt is also faced from other stresses arising from his family. Another cause of stress to Matt is his discovering that his wife had extra-marital affairs outside their wedlock. He learns that his wife was not faithful to their marriage.

This makes him seek to find out the details of the mysterious lover of his wife. He seeks a solution to this family stress by sharing it with his friends as he look for the man he believes his wife loved. He does this to give the lover to his wife a chance to bid farewell to Joanie because Matt believes she will die soon. Matt is also faced with another family stress of dealing with his daughters after Joanie is dead. He poses, “Once I think I know the pattern with these girls -- fun, intimacy, fight,