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Are Families Dangerous?

717 Words3 Pages

The modern day family lives behind a dark cloak made up of secrets and lies. There is the wife left with physical and mental bruises inflicted upon her by a “loving” husband. Next door, there is a child hiding in the closet, avoiding their parents emotionally charged civil war. Across the street, the family of three is sitting at the dinner table with a plate meant for a mother who left ages ago. A few blocks down, there is a young man lying on his bed, contemplating weather his parents would notice him missing. Then there is an empty house, filled with only memories of a family torn apart by hate. Each household has different scars but the same cover up story. The wife telling her neighbors that she tripped and fell; and the child laughing with their friend, talking about how great life is. Even the empty house tells the future buyers that it is a place to raise a family. They are all lies. Every single person in a family lies to make it seem like they are living the American dream. “Are Families Dangerous?” by Barbara Ehrenreich describes perfectly why families are the biggest threat to the human race. Our society’s desire for a need to have perfect families is overshadowing the truth …show more content…

My immediate and extended family members are pressured by society to throw holiday parties. The problem with my family is that we all hold grudges against one another. “We live in a culture that fetishes the family… the perfect container for our lust and loves” (Ehrenreich 2). Our culture make it a need to have the picture perfect family. In the case of my family, we oppress our emotions for two nights of the year and then ignore each other for 363 days. This only teaches the future generations that it is more important to pretend. It puts more pressure on the children to make sure their families are flawless rather than healthy. Our culture makes burying our true feelings accessible causing more

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Surrounded by distress and terror, family was a source of security, broken as it may be. Another instance would be an excerpt from an authentic story called "The Power of Light." This tale is about two Jewish children named Rebecca and David struggling to survive during the Holocaust. They were orphaned and left to perish in unsanitary/unsafe conditions; the sound of their growling stomachs grew familiar, warmth was but a distant memory, and they were likely constantly disheartened by angst. And yet, they still managed to overcome dilemmas.

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In the novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, there are many different family dynamics. Families were very different during that time period dealing with many struggles like racial discrimination. With the conflicts happening in countries families began to become more and more afraid. Throughout the novel every family has unique dynamics and relationships.

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A family contains young minds that are at first taught the building of personality or character and controlling the emotions of him or herself, while also being taught how to set goals for life (Ritter) But as new generations came of age, the family became a weakened and fractured unit as husbands and wives gave way to the human nature of adultery in a widespread manor. Here in America, the family has been under constant assault and broken marriages and broken households are now a normal thing to see. Few fathers show the guidance and teaching to their children that is needed often requiring the mother to take on both roles. As children grow up being more spoiled and pampered to, they are never learning to accept and recover from setbacks.

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144 Words | 1 Pages

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1727 Words | 7 Pages

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1217 Words | 5 Pages

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1100 Words | 5 Pages

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1672 Words | 7 Pages

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