How To Be A Perfect American Family

Many people have ideals in society of what they think the perfect American family is.  If your family is a perfect family, then you're successful in America.

Dad has a great job to support the whole entire family.

Mom stays at home and takes care of the kids.

Sally is a soccer star at the age of 8.

Jack is the next Mozart with his piano skills.

Fido the dog is healthy and loves to play outside.

The whole family lives in a nice house in a safe suburb and they have many friends and nothing is wrong with the world.

If you know a family like this then there is something clearly wrong with the world and this blog post is about to be negated completely.

People see things that are on the surface.  In the family I described above, there could be some underlying factor that makes the family not as perfect as described on the surface level. The dad could be struggling with a drinking problem. One of the children could be struggling with school.  The mom could have had a miscarriage.  This one small flaw wrecks the perfect American family.

What people need to know is that no one is perfect.

People expect perfection, but since it is so hard to obtain, it should not be expected.  A family does not have to be perfection.  A family should strive to be what they believe is successful, not what society makes it out to be.

Rumors, Gossip, and Lies

Everyone talks. People make up lies so that people will feel more secure with things they do not know about others.  It's everywhere in the media as well.  Gossip magazines spread stories of scandals and plastic surgery.

One of my favorite Disney movies is Ratatouille.  One of the sous chefs, Horst, has been to jail and he changes the story every time the other members of the kitchen ask him why. Here is the video if you've never seen the movie or are forgetting the scene.

I don't blame him for doing this, especially since it appears he has been pestered so much.

This specifically reminds me of Jay Gatsby.

Does he know what people say about him?

People are in constant questioning about the life of Gatsby.  At the party in Chapter 3 of The Great Gatsby Nick hears many different things about Gatsby including "'Somebody told me they thought he killed a man'" (44 Fitzgerald).  People are so intent on finding out what goes on in people's personal lives.  Many people do not even know Gatsby, even though they go to his parties and make up stories after seeing how crazy his parties get.  People are not aware of his background with Daisy either.

If I was in a situation similar to Gatsby, I would make sure that everyone knew a bit about my history, and I would also make it a bit public as well, that way no one would accuse me of killing a man. 

I Have Never Seen Any Punctuation Mark Looks Like That

Although it would be nice to keep everything the same way, things change, and the world is evolving as this is being written. 

Punctuation is just one of those things that changes as time goes on.  Most people write how they talk or think. An unknown writer reflecting on a piece by Henry Hitchings states that "punctuation comes and goes" (Punctuation, Social Media, and Evolving Rules of Communication, unknown author). Punctuation changes with the time, as does text message lingo.  Teenagers do not know what a pilcrow or a hedra is. Some authors have decided to do away with punctuation all together as blogger Elizabeth Austin did in her poem "On Punctuation." In her poem Austin is bored by the "dogma of the period" and the "tight-lipped fence of the colon."  In the second half of the poem, Austin speaks fondly of ellipses and exclamation points, which are known by the majority of people, but not commonly seen.  With the use of more modern punctuation, people will be able to convey their emotion in a better way than before,  Punctuation helps show tone of a work without the use of  words. Another well known poet, Emily Dickinson, uses dashes in her poem and talks about the possibility of "A fairer House than Prose." Dickinson uses dashes to express her emotions about how she sees poetry as a world with new punctuation.  Many authors dream of a world where they are unrestricted by the rules of punctuation and can adapt to the lingo of the modern world.

Cholly Breedlove Could Have Been A Lawyer

When I first hear the name Cholly Breedlove, I thought of Atticus Finch because both names were interesting and seemed pretty proper.

I assumed they would be the same.

I was so wrong.

Cholly Breedlove had a rough childhood. His father left his mother before he was born, Shortly after being born his mother placed him in a pile of trash.  There was a small glimmer of hope when Aunt Jimmy took Cholly from the trash and began to serve as his parental figure.  Aunt Jimmy died when Cholly was still a young man, leaving him with no one to send him in the right direction and keep him morals in the right place. After marrying Pauline, he developed a drinking problem. Cholly hit his lowest point after raping his own daughter.  

What would have happened if Cholly had a different upbringing?

Cholly had a rough life from the beginning.  The sad childhood that he had could have been the reason that he continued to struggle later in life. Here is an article that shows how a bad childhood can effect the life of a person forever. 

When I think of bad childhoods, I think of my friends who have divorced parents.

Their lives were changed forever by the actions of their parents.  The children have to overcome different obstacles including new living situations, a different relationship with their parents, and possibly new step-siblings as time progresses on.  Parents determine our futures for us.  When two people agree to have a child, maybe they should think about how their choices will change their child.  It's not often that people are not ready to have children, but still do.   If Cholly's parents would have been there for him, his whole life could have been sent in a completely different direction.  With more help and guidance, Cholly could have worked a better job and received more education.  

Shirley Temple and Pecola

Everyone has had or currently has an obsession with a celebrity.  I'll admit it, I have mine too.  Every July you can find me crying at the local Warped Tour because the singer of *insert current favorite band name here* accidentally touched a piece of my hair when he was singing to some other girl squished up against the barricade with me.  My mother's and I stalked Mathew McConaughey a few summers ago in New York.  Some people have a stalker deep inside of them that they haven't quite revealed yet.
People read gossip magazines, follow their favorite stars on Twitter, and in certain cases, even write fake stories about them.  Everyone wants to be treated like a star.  Stars get the nicest things like fancy handbags from Prada and they can spend hundreds of dollars on cosmetic surgery if they don't like the way they look.

Celebrities get whatever they want.

Pecola has a fascination for Shirley Temple and her cuteness.  After watching a clip of Shirley Temple, I thought that she was cute, but she did not have the majority of the talent that her black co-star, Bojangles, did. Pecola may have only been longing for the physical looks that Shirley has.  The white celebrities at that time were treated better and were liked more by audiences.  Pecola may have not been looking for stardom, but also someone to like her in general.  She can connect with Frida over their like for Shirley Temple, but not Claudia.  I think that if anything, Pecola should have wished for a talent, particularly like the ones that Bojangles had, instead of wishing for something that is only on the outside.