Role Of Parenting In Lysley Tenorio's 'L' Amour CA

1101 Words5 Pages

When you think of neglectful parenting, it is often associated with complete neglect and child abuse. However, neglectful parenting is also a style of parenting where the parents don’t properly respond to their child’s needs and offer little love, affection, and support. This often leads to a stunt in the child’s mental and emotional growth later in life. In the short story, “L'amour, CA,” by Lysley Tenorio, the unnamed narrator, his sister, Isa, and their family, move to Lemoore, California from the Philippines. Throughout the story, Tenorio details how their family tries to fit in and adjust to a new environment. This story brings up the topics of parenting, neglect, and role models. The author utilizes the characters Isa and the narrator …show more content…

Malcolm, a regular at Isa's job, notices her and they begin to hang out frequently. After planning a special getaway for her birthday, Isa and Malcolm decide to leave town. Hours past her curfew, Isa decides that her life with Malcolm is better than her life at home with her family. Ultimately, she makes the decision to leave behind her family for Malcolm, believing she is in love. After some time has passed, Isa returns to her family, pregnant and alone. "This is Isa’s story: Malcolm got her pregnant. He didn’t want the baby, and then he didn’t want her" (9). When she meets Malcolm, she thinks she has found love at last and decides to abandon her family in favor of him. Malcolm, however, decides he no longer wants her after she becomes pregnant, leaving her back on her own. Isa obsesses over the idea of love because she was abandoned growing up. As a result, she became convinced that she and Malcolm were in love whenever she received any form of attention from him. She allowed this belief to control her and left her family for a man she hardly knew and became pregnant at a young age. Isa's obsession with love as a result of her parents' lack of affection caused her a lot of issues and serves as an example of how poor parenting may result in children making bad