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.
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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