Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Evan Bell: Family Matters


Family is very important. Without family you don’t have a consistent group of people who will support you no matter what. Family loves you for whoever you are and stay behind you even if they don’t always agree.  My family and the Salzman’s family in the book are incredibly similar. The difference is I’m not the oldest. I have an older brother who is 32 years old, a sister who is 29 years old, I will be 18 years old in September, and my little brother just turned 14.

Even in through all the love and moral support family gives you there will always be clashes of ideals with your parents and sibling alike. Mostly with your siblings though. I’m the 3rd of 4 children and kind of consider myself in the middle. I’m not that old to where I can do most things on my own officially (at least for another 55 days) nor am I too young where my parents have to baby me or I have to check in with them every time I put one foot in front of the other. Yes I’m that awkward middle child. The one whose role isn’t really defined because the middle children are neither or as I say. I do share the role though of being the oldest of the second generation of children my father raised. I am responsible for my little brother and we often clash because he is so damn annoying. I love the kid but sometimes I wouldn’t mind locking him in a closet like I did when he was younger.          

Salzman never had that problem of clashing with his siblings in the story. Mark often got along with them. There would be moments in the book where one of his siblings “tattletale” on him for walking barefoot to school or stuffing himself in a box pretending to be in space but they often wouldn’t. I grew up with in my younger days my older brother and sister and they both thought of me how I think of my younger brother; both wanted to stuff me into a closet. Even as annoying as I was when I was little they would always watch all the movies with me and played all the dumb little kid games I was into and that’s they supported me. I supported them by attending band concerts, poetry slams, and track and field meets.

Salzman family in the book personifies unity. In their stereotypical family where the father is kind of brunt, tough, always downplays everything, shows tough love but means it in the best way. The mother who takes care of her children and wants the best for her children. You then have the three children who are normal siblings who clash a lot and often considered the other two weird and they’re the ‘sane ones.  They all show each other they care in their own ways and support each other which make the unity that the family exhibits. My family actually mirrors the Salzman family with exception to the fact that there are four kids in the family and only me and my younger brother clash on just about everything. Even through all that fighting we support each other and in our own “special” way we show unity within our family.

1 comment:

  1. I am one of four siblings as well and even though I'm the oldest, I'm always worried my brother Tyler, who's technically the middle child, will feel like that.

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