Throughout this course we have focused primarily on families, their relationships, problems, lifestyles, and even death. I have read many pieces of writing, and between these different I have chosen to concentrate on the roles of the elderly people. How they affected families, and what kind of influence they had on the family, and how they influenced the future generations. I have gathered examples from three different short stories and will discuss them in detail regarding the topic I have chosen and focus on the aspects that I thought were of significance.
Four generations, written by Joyce Maynard is one of the stories that I remember the most, because it was understandable and about a realistic topic. "My grandmother is a woman who used to crack brazil nuts open with her teeth, a woman who once lifted a car off the ground." The grandmother was a symbol of strength and courage, the narrator recalled her grandmother always saying she was about to die, she did not think it would actually ever happen.
Matti
English: A photograph of a 2 month old human infan...
English: A Grandmother with her new born Granddaug...The narrator wanted to empress her grandmother by bringing her own daughter and dressed her up, this went to show that she really cared allot about what her grandmother thought about her.
I thought that the grandmother influenced the characters in a positive way, because she made the people she influenced always want to do the best in life, as the people seemed to really care about and want her approval.
The second chosen story, God is Not a Fish Inspector by W.D. Valgardson was my personal favorite, the main character was Fusi, a man who himself knew he was getting old, but that didn't mean he had to accept it, as Fusi was a n old man with attitude, an attitude determined to not let himself down...