Many family relationships are supported by trust and people tend to help others out rather than just themselves. However, some family members can take advantage of the family bond, for example, when someone stays with their family for their own benefit. This can negatively affect the other family member because they are too kind and feel obligated to help them even though they are being mistreated. For example in the short story The Winner by Barbara Kimenye, Pius Ndawula won a football lottery and all of his relatives came to stay in his house and treated him nicely only because he won the lottery. Although Pius might have enjoyed the attention at first, it got to a point where it was too much as Yosefu and Kibuka observed Pius’ current state of emotion: “They were both alarmed at the weariness they saw on Pius’s face. The old man looked utterly worn out, his skin grey and sickly.” (Kimenye). Pius felt like his family was taking advantage of him, which negatively affected his health as demonstrated by how worn out he seemed. A similar situation took place in King Lear by William Shakespeare when Goneril felt like her father and his knights were abusing their privilege of her hospitality: “By day and night, he wrongs me! Every hour He flashes into one gross crime or other That sets us all at odds. I’ll not endure it. His knights grow riotous” (1.3.4-7). Goneril expresses her frustration for her father since he and his knights were being very rowdy and disrespectful in her castle. King Lear is only thinking about himself and does not consider how his daughter is feeling. Pius’ situation is similar to Goneril’s because both of their family members were disrespectful when staying in their homes. In conclusion, even though an advantage of having family is that you can count on one another, family members can sometimes exploit the kindness or hospitality of the other and use it for their own gain.
0 Comments
All parents exhibit some sort of preference to one of their children, no matter how well they hide it. This greatly impacts the development of each child and how they act later on in life. One explanation of why parents prefer certain children is greatly illustrated by Jefferey Kluger in his TED-talk: "Firstborns across history have tended to be bigger and healthier than later borns, in part, because of the head start they got on food in an area in which it could be scarce" (Kluger). This demonstrates that the parents preferences might not be intentional but it has to do with how much effort and food the parents have to divide between each sibling. One example of how these preferences affect children is in King Lear by William Shakespeare when Edmund is complaining how his brother is more privileged than him: "For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines Lag of a brother? Why bastard?" (1.2.5-6). This shows how jealous Edmund is of his brother Edgar which happens in many sibling relationships where one of the parents clearly prefer one child over the other. Edmund also demonstrates later on how this affected him when he successfully framed his brother Edgar for trying to murder him, which turned his father against Edgar. This quote also relates to what Kluger said about how older siblings are often more privileged which leaves the younger sibling feeling worthless. In conclusion, this is how the preferences parents put on their children greatly influences how they act later on in life. King Lear by William Shakespeare and The sibling Bond TED Talk by Jeffrey Kluger both give great examples of how important these sibling and parent relationships are.
|
AuthorJack Williams ArchivesCategories |