Building Strong Family Relationships - Essay Example

Building Strong Family Relationships Thesis: Family relationships are an important aspect of life and should be maintained. Motivating move: This seeming tangential or insignificant matter is actually important or interesting. Analytical question: How is the relationship of the characters and their next of kin, and what is the effect in the story? Family Relationships Family relationships are an important aspect in the life of each individual and society as a whole. Therefore, there is a dire need of embracing family relationships and maintaining them, as these hold many benefits for individuals and communities. The two stories, “Tito’s Goodbye” by Cristina Garcia and “Albert and Esene” by Frances Khirallah Noble illustrates and educates on just how important it is to uphold family relationships. In Tito’s goodbye, he illustrates the bad effects or consequences of not caring for one’s family while in Albert and Esene, the widow is seen to have a good relationship with her family and they even take time to go and console her after the death of her husband. In the story “Tito’s Goodbye” by Cristina Garcia, the author tells of the story of an immigrant, Tito Urena, who has poor relationship with his family. He had not attended his daughter’s wedding and his daughter had never forgiven him for that. His son had not turned out as he was supposed to be because he did not have. When he died alone in his office, none of his family members even noticed and he stayed dead in the office for two day only for the police to locate his girlfriend later. From Tito’s story, the theme of family relationship emerges, and one learns about the disadvantages of having poor relationship with family. The immigrant, Tito Urena, is portrayed as one that had poor relationship with his family members. He is shown as having not communicated with his family for a long time. Additionally, he was involved in a conflict with one Haydee, who was once his wife, with whom he had separated for 16 years (Garcia 156). If he had a good relationship with his family members, they would have probably noticed that he was missing sooner than two days and he would have been given a better send-off. The story also shows the remarkable isolation of Tito during the time of his death, as well as after his death. A highlight of this story is where Tito suffers a heart attack that cuts his life short while in his office. At the time of his death, Tito had no one around him in his office, as he was all alone. He is reported to have given the secretary time off not because he did not need her but because he loved isolation and wanted to deduct $18 from her allowances from the extra time she would have worked. “Tito told his secretary to leave in after lunch since it had started to snow and she lived in Hoboken, but mostly because he could deduct the 18 dollars from her weekly pay”(Garcia 156). He lived far away from his family whom he never contacted. His poor relationship with family could not allow him to call any of them before succumbing to the heart attack. The poor relationship that Tito developed also affected his marriage. It is reported that he had been separated from his wife Haydee for over 16 years and she refused to divorce him in order to maintain a wealthy life style she was accustomed to. Therefore, Tito died all alone. After his death, no one realized that Tito was dead. In fact, his body spent two days in the office before being noticed (Garcia 159). His body remained unclaimed, and only his mistress could be traced by police. Therefore, this kind of alienation and failure to embrace family relationships made Tito live and die a lonely death. If he had allowed his secretary to stay in, perhaps he would have gotten help and maybe even survived the heart attack. However, his ambitions and desire to save money no matter how little the amount made him ask her to leave in the pretext of the snow. The second story, “Albert and Esene” by Frances Khirallah also bears the significant theme of family relationships. The author depicts Esene, a widow, as having good relationship with her family members and relatives. This story teaches on the advantages of embracing good relationship with family. There are different aspects in this story that are an evidence of the good relations that Esene had with her family. For instance, Esene shares jokes and a light moment with her husband’s, Albert’s, sisters who came to visit her (Khirallah 162). The mere fact that these two ladies, Safiyah and Amelia, took their time and visited Esene shows how strong their relationship was. The other evidence is that they all travelled in the same car even though they are complaining about Safiya’s poor driving skills. “You slam the brakes every time you see a car”, complains Amelia. Esene also contributes to the complaints and says, “People were honking and shouting at us the whole trip and she did not notice. Start, stop, start, stop, she stops twenty feet before every intersection” (Khirallah 162). Despite the complaints, it is evident that they are lovely complaints acting as ice breakers meant to start a conversation. In addition, Esene serves them with coffee and she confirms to her to widow friends that she has served them coffee the same way they like and prefer it. Even though she is going through a tough time, her family is there to help her go through it and to ensure that she is well. Another instance in the story that proves that Esene valued good family relationship is how she related with her late husband, Albert. Their relationship depicts love and care for one another. The couple did different things together. For instance, Albert had taught Esene how to read and write, and Esene spent the whole afternoon with Albert at his shop until the closing time. The private life of Esene and Albert also depict a good and healthy relationship between the couple. For instance, “If Albert came home early, he tucked her in bed himself tasting the lovely bourbon on her lips, slipping off her navy dress, unrolling her stockings, sliding his hands …” (Khirallah, 164). Therefore, the good relationship that this couple had, together with their relationship with their extended families helped Esene to find solace in the company of her family, after the death of Albert. The two stories “Tito’s Goodbye” by Cristina Garcia and “Albert and Esene” by Frances Khirallah Noble bear the theme of relationship. From these, one can learn the importance of good relationships with family, relatives, and friends. In “Tito’s Goodbye” by Cristina Garcia, Tito has been depicted as an alienated person that does not value relationships. Different scenarios in the story show how Tito disregarded relationship with his family. For instance, Tito had not seen his brothers for a whole 5 years period (Garcia 161). He also did not spend time with his daughter, who lived in another city. He even missed the wedding of his daughter, yet the presence of a father is important in a girl’s wedding. Similarly, Tito had no relationship with his son. He had in fact sent him to an orphanage in another country. With regard to Haydee, his former wife, Tito had no good relationship with her, and considered her as being after his money. When they separated, Haydee refused to grant him a divorce and Tito kept running away from her. Finally, Tito did not visit his father; neither did he take flowers to his mother’s grave (Garcia 161). This lack of relationship with family resulted in the miserable and lonely death of Tito; as no one was beside him at the time of his death, and after his death, save for his mistress, who came to identify Tito’s body at the morgue. Similarly, in the story “Albert and Esene” by Frances Khirallah Noblebear, the theme of relationships is well brought out. This story teaches on the benefits of having good relationship with family and relatives. Esene, a widow, and the main character in this story is shown as a woman that values relationships. There are different scenarios in the story that depict the theme of relationships, and Esene’s commitment to relationships. The value of Esene for relationships starts in her house. Her life with her late husband, Albert is depictive of a good relationship between couples. Esene loved and supported her husband. Her husband in return loved her and wanted her to advance. He taught her to read and write. Furthermore, Albert waited for Esene in the vehicle as she was taking her cooking classes. “…and when he bought their car, he drove her every evening, reading newspaper in the front seat while she was inside…” (Khirallah, 167). Even without children, they loved each other dearly and were dedicated to each other as well. In their later years, Esene would spend more time with her husband at his shop. They also shared special private moments together, which is indicative of a good relationship. Esene also welcomes and cooks lunch for the sisters of Albert after Albert’s death. “Already the smells for which Esene was known for floated from her kitchen…” (Khirallah, 162). The presence of Albert’s sisters in Esene’s house after Albert’s death shows that Albert and Esene maintained good relationship with their families; hence they would be willing to console Esene. The two stories have similarities and differences that are important. The major similarity between the two stories is the highlight of death. In both stories, one character dies. In “Albert and Esene”, Albert died, while in “Tito’s Goodbye”, Tito died. The deaths in these two stories are a major highlight, and help to contribute the theme of relationships. This is mainly basing on the events that unfold after the deaths of these characters. The major difference in the stories is the theme of loneliness. The way that they are died are very different. While Tito died in his office alone and was discovered two days later. “Tito lay dead in his office all weekend…” (Garcia 160). Tito is expressed as a lonely man in the manner in which he cannot maintain good family relations. On the other hand, Esene, Safiyah, and Amelia are all widows. They are depicted consoling themselves through flashback. That is mostly highlighted when Esene is narrating her past with her late husband Albert. On the other hand, a major difference between the stories lies in how the theme has been articulated. In “Tito’s Goodbye”, Tito had poor relationship with his family members. On the other hand, Esene in “Albert and Esene”, had good relationship with family members. This is evident when Albert and Esene send Christmas cards to their relatives (Khirallah 167). This difference led to Tito dying a lonely death with only his mistress, Beatrice Hunt, claiming his body (Garcia 160). This, therefore, is a major contrast between these two stories. While Esene had cordial relations with her family and husband, Tito had no relationship with his family, including children and former wife. Tito did not visit his son and daughter, father, mother’s grave or other relatives. He was only concerned with making money and save whatever he could. He went at great lengths to ensure that he did little work with most pay. This is evidenced when he takes the easiest but well-paying cases (Garcia 159). Furthermore, he took out an advertisement on the television so that he could get more customers. On the other hand, even though Albert and Esene did not have children, Esene was never lonely when her husband died. This is evident when Albert’s sisters come to console Esene (Khirallah 162). Although Tito had two children, he still died a very lonely death without any of his family members. In conclusion, the two stories bear an important theme of relationships. These tell of how the main characters perceive relationships. In one story, the main character embraces family relationship and has cordial relations with her family and relatives. In the other story, Tito does not value and commit to relationships, even with his family. Tito is only concerned about making money from his poor clientele. This has a bad outcome for Tito, as he dies miserably. On the other hand, Esene, who embraces relationships, has family by her side to console her after her husband’s death. Therefore, while Tito’s outcome teaches about the disadvantages of having no relationship with family, Esene’s outcome shows the benefits of good relationship with family. These stories actually prove that no man is an island; hence relationship with family should be fostered. The benefits of having close relationships with the family can never be under-estimated. It is important to value family and not just for the material things that they can offer, but also for the company and love that they give. Works Cited Garcia, Christina. “Tito’s Goodbye” In Guidelines: A Cross Cultural Reading/Writing Text. Ed. Ruth Spack. New York: Cambridge, 2007. Print. Khirallah, Frances. “Albert and Esene” In Guidelines: A Cross Cultural Reading/Writing Text. Ed. Ruth Spack. New York: Cambridge, 2007. Print Read More