Parent and Child Relationship in Four Modern Short Stories in English - Essay Example

The parental love portrayed in all four stories is based on culture and personal endeavours, which highly affected their relationship with their children and with the whole point of the story. Parenthood in Four Stories Each story portrays a unique relationship between mothers and their children. Having been written in different time periods, the stories show varied mother and child relationship depending on the trend on which it was written. The relationship existing in each mother and child pair in each story shows how feminism and external influence affect the relationship.

For instance, in the story “Half and Half” by Amy Tan, it tells a story of a daughter living with guilt after an accident, which took the life of her little brother and a mother who lost her faith despite her religious personality revealed at the beginning of the story. The mother-daughter relationship in this story is common in traditional Asian families. The quality of being protective of the mother is shown the first time that Ted takes Rose for a date. Her mother warned her that “he’s American” (Tan 1).

Rose, on the other hand, reveals to be a normal Asian American teenager. Years after the incident, both have become pillars of each other, while still enduring the pain the accident has brought. When Rose’s marriage failed, her mother convinced her to save it, but Rose argued that it is already impossible. The generation gap between these two women could build a wall between them or would serve as a bridge in strengthening the relationship. In the story, it became the latter. Opposing this is the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

” If Rose and her mother managed to build the relationship back, Connie’s realization came too late. Contrary to what most mothers would do, such as appreciating their children, Connie’s mother would always stop her from acting the way she does. At one point in the story, Connie’s mother asked: “You think you’re so pretty?” (Oates 1). The way her mother asked her is full of sarcasm that it is far from actually appreciating her own daughter. At first, the mother is perceived as bias in the way she treats her children, as she favors more her eldest daughter, June.

However, Connie’s mother may just have a different parenting style, and she wants Connie to follow her sister’s positive image. Her parents were too lax about Connie’s actions, and did not foresee a danger coming in, although they try to keep her attached with the rest of the family members, but Connie refused. Connie’s willfulness brought her to the point where she actually realized the responsibilities of being a real woman, in a violent way through an obsessed admirer, Arnold Friend.

Connie’s relationship with her parents could be a good defense against Arnold, but since she distanced herself from her family, the day when she is supposed to be with her family for a picnic became an opportunity for Friend to harass her, as she refused to join the picnic. If Connie was closer to her family, there would not have been a chance in which Friend can use against her. Connie’s attitude is comparable to Dee’s in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker. There is a perceived sibling rivalry between Dee and her sister, Maggie, where their mother always puts her favor to the latter.

Her mother sees the real goodness in her daughter, Maggie and does not appreciate Dee’