The Wars Comparitive Essay

8/18/2019 The Wars Comparitive Essay

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Theme of Dysfunctional Families

“Everyone who’s born has come from the sea. Your mother’s womb is just a sea

in small. [ ! ] Your blood is the sea continued in your veins” (Findley 117).

Every child that is born must have had a mother and a father. A mother that gave

birth to them, and a father who impregnated her. When the child is born, problems can

arise. The parents might not have wanted a baby. They might have not been financially

ready. They might be too young or it might have been a mistake. The possibilities are

endless. They even might have considered having an abortion.In America, 50% of pregnancies are unintended. 40% of these pregnancies are

terminated by abortion. 10% of women will have an abortion by the age of 20, 25% by

the age of 30 and 30% by the age of 45.

Sometimes, a couple wants to have a child, but cannot have one. Whether it is

the male or females fault, they need extra steps to have a baby. In this case, the child

might not even belong to one of them. The child will inherit genes from whoever

donated their sperm or body. Having a child can be the start of a dysfunctional family.

Another example of a cause of dysfunctional families is mental illness at birth.

Mental illness can cause a dysfunction in a family because it is something that cannot

be controlled. It is something that involves having the rest of the family members take

care of the innocent child. Although families feel like its torture to deal with mental

illness, it is something they have to do because it cannot be changed.


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King Lear describes it in King Lear, “thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter—

or rather a disease that’s in my flesh, which I must needs call mine” (Shakespeare 2, 4,

221). Lear is saying that his daughters are his flesh and he is required to love them.

An example of this can be found in the Ross family. In the Ross family, there was

a daughter named Rowena. She was diagnosed with a mental illness at birth. “Her head

is large and adult but her body is that of a year-old child. She is twenty-five years old.

She is what is called hydrocephalic —which in plain language means she was born with

water on the brain” (Findley 7). Later on, Rowena fell out of her chair, onto the concrete

floor and passed away. Another member in the Ross family is Robert, the protagonist of the book. “Later,

when he came to realize she couldn’t walk and never left the chair, he became her

guardian” (7). Unfortunately for him, he was in his room “making love to his pillows” (16)

when Rowena fell. This caused Robert to feel more guilt than he should. Because of

this she remains in Robert's mind throughout the novel. He had a lot of flashbacks and

memories, but that is a theme for another day.

Another dysfunction in a family can be caused by having a disagreement

between at least two members. Rowena had ten rabbits that she looked after and kept

as pets while she was alive, but after she passed away, her mother insisted to have

them all killed. And she wanted Robert to be the one who kills them. Robert refused to

do the deed because it was the only thing left that reminded him of Rowena. Since

Robert refused, the matter escalated and his mom hired a man to kill the rabbits

instead. Robert did not want the rabbits to die, so he did whatever he could to prevent it,

but “They carried Robert into the house [ ! ] and at the door the father turned back and


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gave the man in the stable the signal to proceed with the business for which he had

been summoned” (20).

Dysfunction in families causes people to want to leave. One way to leave is to

move out. Another way would be to join the army. Joining the army is another thing that

can cause a dysfunction in a family because it involves leaving the family for a long

period of time with the chance of not coming back.

“I know what you want to do. I know you're going to go away to be a soldier. Well-

you can go to hell. I'm not responsible. I'm just another stranger. Birth I can give you-but

life I cannot. I can't keep anyone alive. Not anymore” (23).This quote shows that the mother of Robert does not want him to join the army,

but since she cannot stop him, she is mad at him and does not want to see him

anymore. She is saying that she can give birth to him, but she cannot give life, since he

is not listening.

Blindness is another cause of dysfunctional families. When one person thinks

they know and see everything, it causes the rest of the family to take advantage of the

ignorance.

“‘Where?’ said Mrs Ross. ‘Where? Where are you?’ Mister Ross said ‘I’m here.’

Mrs Ross said: ‘I’m sorry. Please I cannot see you’ [ ! ] ‘I’m blind,’ said Mrs Ross. ‘I’ve

gone blind’”(205).

When Lear was dividing his kingdom amongst his daughters, he wanted to act

like he is splitting it based on how much his daughters love him. The way he measures

the love is by the words they use to flatter him. Goneril and Regan, the two older

daughters, flatter him and he is proud of what they are saying. Cordelia on the other


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hand said that she loves him as much as she should love her father. She refused to lie

to him about the exaggerated love he expects to hear. She even risked being banished.

Lear’s blindness caused him to make the wrong decisions, which in the end he

realized. Lear was blind, he could not see the true love that Cordelia was showing and

he fell for Goneril and Regan’s plan to get rid of him. There is a clear dysfunction in a

family when the children want to get rid of their father.

An excessive drinking problem can arise in dysfunctional families. “The smell of

the bottle reminded him of his mother’s room at home” (35). “Now his mother would be

drinking in her bedroom. But no one would mention it” (19).In an article by Louisa Thomas called Together We Make Football, it mentions

that a drunk NFL player, named Kevin Williams, abused his wife, Tasha. “Kevin had

pushed her when he saw that she wasn’t wearing her wedding ring. After she hit him

with her cell phone, he threw her across the bed and into a nightstand, then jumped on

her. She grabbed a knife, which he wrestled from her” (Thomas 1).

Many people drink in order to escape from their lives, forget their troubles, or

drown their sorrows. Since alcohol makes the brain and memory go fuzzy, some people

actually forget what's troubling them, at least for a night. But when the person wakes up,

all the troubles are still there. Alcohol never fixes what is wrong with somebody's life or

family.

Insanity can also arise from dysfunctional families. Insanity can occur when

anger is held in for a long period of time and then one day, all hell breaks loose. Robert

had this problem. “His temper, you know, was terrible [ ! ] I saw him firing his gun in the


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woods at a young tree [ ! ] he would throw things down and break them on the ground

[! ] he had a great deal of violence inside” (Findley 174).

Similarly, King Lear had this problem. He gradually went insane. He started off as

an ignorant king who made mistakes. These mistakes came back to him and hurt him.

Eventually, he went insane. He was found running around a field with a crown of flowers

on his head. The words he was saying did not make any logical sense.

Finally, death is a very emotional stage. Not for the person who died, but for the

people who knew him. It gives people mixed emotions and it makes them question

whether or not they would attend the funeral. It is a time where everyone forgets the badand remembers the good. It is a time where people pay their respects. In a

dysfunctional family, the funeral could resemble Robert’s funeral. A messed up funeral.

“Mister Ross was the only member of his family who came to see him buried” (217).

In conclusion, there are many families with dysfunctionality. This is not only a

theme in multiple texts, but is also something that people in the real world have to deal

with. It is a serious issue that can cause people to want to drink, go insane, and/or take

advantage of others. It causes people to not want to be with their families. Like Stella in

The Streetcar Named Desire said, “I have always depended on the kindness of

strangers” (Williams 11, 13-14).

Works Cited


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Findley, Timothy. The Wars. Toronto: Penguin, 1996. Print.

Shakespeare, William, and Ken Roy. King Lear. 2nd ed. Toronto: Harcourt Canada,

2002. Print.

Thomas, Louisa. "Together We Make Football." Grantland. 17 Sept. 2014. Web. 17 May

2015.

Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. New York: New Directions, 2004. Print.

"Induced Abortion in the United States." Guttmacher Institute. Guttmacher Institute, 1

July 2014. Web. 17 May 2015.

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The Wars Comparitive Essay