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How the Cooper kids react to their family dynamics

  Throughout most of the novel Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead we see a complicated family dynamic in Benji’s household. His father drinks and often has “flare-ups” where he starts arguments and yells at the kids and his wife. He also called Reggie, Benji’s brother, “shithead” for an entire year. We see throughout the story the different reactions Benji and his siblings have to this complicated family dynamic.           Elena, Benji’s older sister, is rarely in the novel though Benji often speaks of how once she got to college she never comes out to Sag Harbor. Benji tells the reader about how Elena only comes home a couple times a year, if even, to see the family. We learn Elena’s reasoning for this on page 285. “Do me a favor and don’t tell mom and dad you saw me, will you?...They wouldn’t understand,.. “Of course I want to see you and Reggie…You know how it can be in that house. ”. These pieces of the conversation between Elena and Benji show how E...
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"Fun Home": Bruce + Alison

  Throughout the story “Fun Home” we see Alison’s father Bruce prevent her from expressing her true identity. On page 15 Alison compares herself to her father using terms like, “Butch to his nelly”, and “I was Spartan to my Father’s Athernian”. These terms show how polar opposite they were, we also see this in the scene where he is telling her to change her outfit. This connects to Bruce’s need to be in control. Alison also talks about Bruce’s obsession with the house and furniture, and this connects to him controlling her. On page 14 Alison describes this relationship, “I grew to resent the way my father treated his furniture like children, and his children like furniture.” This quote shows how Alison felt controlled by Bruce, like he wanted her to look nice and play the part. This is also shown through a quote on page 16, “He used his skillful artifice not to make things, but to make things appear to be what they were not.” Bruce made Alison appear to be a super feminine girl thr...
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Sylvia Plath's "Lady Lazarus" and "Daddy"

  In the poem “Daddy” Sylvia Plath writes of her father who died when she was young, but even further she writes of another man in her life, her husband. Towards the end of the poem it can be read as her finding a husband like the memories of her father. “I made a model of you, A man in a Meinkampf look”. I think in some ways this was Plath’s way of continuing her father’s legacy and keeping his memories alive.  Sadly, by the end of the poem, it no longer feels as though Plath is reminiscing about her father; rather it feels as though she is blaming him for the depression she has experienced throughout her life. The last stanza reads, “There’s a stake in your fat black heart And the villagers never liked you. They are dancing and stamping on you. They always knew it was you. Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through”. When listening to Plath read this stanza in class, you could feel the anger and frustration in her voice. I believe that if we use “The Bell Jar” as an autobiograp...
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How to talk to Holden Caulfield

  Holden Caulfield is the master of “phony”s he will decide who is and isn’t and anyone one who doesn’t agree most certainly is a phony. Throughout this novel, especially as we approached the end, we watched as it became more difficult to talk with Holden, as he considered nearly everyone around him a phony. In class on January 28th we wrote and discussed how we would talk to Holden in these moments as he is rejecting everyone. Would we give him advice, or just let him speak? Would we agree with him no matter what, or would we disagree with the risk of being called a phony?  Throughout the novel, Holden’s common hatred of phonies comes from the idea that they just follow along with society. It is clear that Holden feels almost estranged from society because it is inherently evil. Holden clearly believes this upper-class society he has been raised in is negative, and wants nothing less than to be far-far from it, out west (taking it easy). So to get on his good side, you must...
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