Barbara Kingsolvers book High Tide in Tucson: Essays from Now or Never is a collection of twenty-five different essays. They do not seem connected to each other at the first sight, but in reality, a few major themes, such as parenting, motherhood, family life and nature, connect them together. Several of the essays contain a critique of different aspects in the U.S. culture on which the author focuses. For my writing, I chose four of those essays: High Tide in Tucson, Stone Soup, Somebodys Baby, Civil Disobedience at Breakfast, in which Kingsolver wrote about parenting in America. In my essay, I will try to explain how the author connected her essays with the critique of this aspect, and what the nature of her critique is.
In the first part of my essay, I would like to write about the relationship between parents and their children. Lets see what she wrote about the American parents way of education their children. In her essay Somebodys Baby, she wrote that the American culture tended to regard children as a sort of toxic-waste product: a necessary evil(100), a mistake that should not be rewarded.(102) People do not respect children, and when the children grow up, they do not want to respect the elders. When I was studying in ESL 110D class, we talked with my teacher about respect. Before, I thought that Americans do not respect their elders. Thanks to my teacher, who explained to me that America is the nation that loves its independence.
People do not help much their elders because they do not want to be deprived of the independence from their elders, and also elders do not want to cause problems to their youth. In other words, young people respect their elders, but in different ways than we do. It is very hard to understand people with the different cultural background and accept their points of view. But it becomes easier when we learn something about their culture. Kingsolver wrote in her essay Somebodys Baby, The worth of children in America is tide to their dollar value.(102) There are a few government programs for the children in this country. The author compared this situation with the kids to the different situation in the other countries.
The Essay on Discus the Relationship of Atticus to His Children. Compare This with a Parent/Child Relationship.
To Kill a Mocking Bird Discus the relationship of Atticus to his children. Compare this with a parent/child relationship. Atticus Finch is a single parent and lawyer who is upright and tolerant to differences. Atticus is the same way with his kids, Scout and Jem. At the beginning of this book Scout is 6 and Jem is 10 years old. Unlike most children Jem and Scout don’t call their father “father”. ...
In Spain, for example, is the culture that held children to be its meringues and clairs.(100) There people like kids, and they show their love and respect to the kids. She also said that in many other parts of the world the infant mortality rates are lower simply because those people attend better to their mother and children. It used to be like this in my country, but now the situation has changed. Before, the regular soviet family had two parents and three or more children. Now people try to have only one child because it much easier to raise one child than three or five. The first thing that surprised me when I just moved here was a lot of pregnant women I saw around.
In my country, the pregnant woman is unique. I think the wish of people to have more children shows the wealth of the whole country. In my opinion, people here have a lot of government programs that support mothers and children. I disagree with the author because we have different cultural background and we see this problem from the different perspectives. Kingsolver wrote in Civil Disobedience at Breakfast that children are adept at becoming what we expect them to be, but in her essay Somebodys Baby, she gave us the example of the old American lady who did not want to change her sit and put her own comfort first, the author warned us that we should be careful what we give our children, for sooner or later we are sure to get it back. (107) In this essay, she also wrote that parents come to the restaurants to get away from their kids.
The Essay on Divorce Children Parents Family
I intend to look at all the different aspects of children in what would typical be called a dysfunctional family. There have been many studies on this fact. It has been shown time and time again that children that do not come from stable environments are far more likely to be delinquents. I will reference several of these studies, such as the studies done in Rochester, Denver and Pittsburgh. This ...
Maybe because the parents wanted to get away from the children, the children too wanted to move from their parents house as soon as possible and as far as they can. In High Tide in Tucson, Kingsolver wrote, My culture values independence above all things.(14) Even the fairy tales command: Little Pig, go out and seek for your fortune! So did the author like many people did this before her and continue doing it now. Some parents give children too much freedom, while others teach their children that they are the whole world for their parents. When Kingsolver talked about parents love in the essay Civil Disobedience at Breakfast, she said raising a kid is the academy and in Somebodys Baby, she suggested to give a special license for parenting. She said in Civil Disobedience at Breakfast that she tried to do most things like her mother did for her. The author compared the mothers job before and now. She said, My mothers work was me, but now Im a mother with other work too.(91) In her essay Stone Soup, she also compared family life before and now, she wrote about the differences between the ideal American family, the Family of Dolls, which contained four members in it: Dad, Mom, Sis, and Junior, and the facts of our time: divorce, remarriage, single parenthood, gay parents, and blended families.(140) Todays mothers prefer to be employed and more independent. Sometimes this is the cause of the divorce.
The children from such families are called the children of divorce. Children learn a lot from their parents, but we cannot say that children from divorced families would be more or less successful. Theres no moral authority there.(141) The author said that the family is a big empty pot, save for what gets thrown in, and I think we could say the same about our children. In my opinion, Kingsolvers critique of American parents is too strong. I am new to this country, and I do not have a big experience in communication with other Americans, but most people I have met like children and show their love to them. I was surprised at the first time when my little son fell a strange woman helped him to get up and calmed him down.
Sometimes I do not like that much attention that people show to my daughter saying that she is so pretty and has beautiful blue eyes. I am afraid that she will be naughty and self-satisfied too much. Like every parent in the world, I want my children grow up kind, respectful to others. I think this is parents responsibility to teach their children be respectful to the others. I like Kingsolvers suggestions about parenting. One of them is to teach our children to be responsible for something or someone.
The Essay on Foster Care Parents Child Disruption Families
When foster care parents become discouraged with raising a foster care child it is frequently due to behavioral problems. An adolescent who has experienced a history of maltreatment is most likely to have such difficult behavior problems that lead to the disruption of placement. Many parents have a difficult time dealing with behavioral problems from a teen who has grown up in a healthy, loving ...
In her essay High Tide in Tucson, she wrote how the author and her daughter took care of the crab. She wrote, It is a big responsibility to have thrown someone elses life into permanent chaos. I think this is not only a good experience for her daughter to be responsible for this small crab, but also it is a good practice to learn something new about this animal. Almost all Kingsolvers essays also connected by the theme of nature and that we all belong to it. In her essay High Tide in Tucson, she wrote about the hermit crab, which lives in her house in the desert. She explained that we all are the members of the Animal Kingdom.
She wrote that we follow internal rhythms: to walk upright, to protect our loved ones, to cooperate with the family group.(8) In another essay, Stone Soup, she said that we are social animals, deeply fond of companionship, and children love best to run in packs,(144) and in Somebodys Baby, she wrote, like every other species, were only here because our ancestors spent millions of years refining their act as efficient, dedicated breedersUnlike many other species we are social, insightful, and capable of anticipating our future.(105) The nature of Kingsolvers critique is her background. She wrote about parenting and our connections with nature using her personal experience as a traveler, a divorced, single mother of two-years-old daughter, and as a biologist. It makes her essays more interesting and understandable. I have learned many new and interesting things about U.S. cultural traditions and nature from her essays. I have never thought before that divorce could be good, and it is not necessary for childrens success grow up in the ideal family. With her good explanations of the different aspects, she forces us to think differently about our usual problems, losses and gifts from the life.
Barbara Kingsolver wrote the great essays in which she criticizes several aspects of American culture. In my essay, I tried to analyze only four of her essays that contain a critique of American parenting, and our connections with nature, but there are many other aspects of American culture she criticized in the book. For example, in her essay Postcards from the Imaginary Mom she wrote that America is the only place where refusal to promote yourself is perceived as arrogance(163), in In the Belly of the Beast she criticized the Pentagon for using the nuclear weapons, and so on. I have learned so many interesting things about nature, about American culture from this book, and I like it. I know that all the knowledge that I got from it such as her suggestions for parents, and interesting details about nature life, will not be just valuable skills.
The Term Paper on The Nature of American Politics in All the Kings Men
The Nature of American Politics in All the King’s Men Throughout Robert Penn Warren’s novel All the King’s Men, politics plays a fundamental role in the background of the story. It is obvious that Warren’s agenda was to neither praise nor absolutely condemn American politics, yet his novel provides an example of political corruption and its corresponding hazards. The novel uses examples of ...
