Fourth Essay Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Fourth Assignment - Essay Example Each of the three books depicts a different kind of alternative family. The families in the books all have one thing in common, however. They all choose to be together and love each other regardless of anything that happens. In this way, these alternative families are able to function better than many traditional families. The theme throughout all of the books is that people find love and support in unexpected places. This doesn’t just refer to romantic love, but all kinds of love; especially the love that exists between good friends. The friends in turn use the love they’ve found to form families. The three different books all begin with traditional families that have been fractured in some way. In Plainsong, Tom Guthrie’s family is falling apart because of his wife’s growing depression, and she eventually leaves him. Victoria loses her family because first her father and then her mother have abandoned her. In Cold Mountain, almost all of the main charact ers’ close family members have died, and they all find themselves stuck far away from the places they think of as home. In Bridget Jonses’s Diary, Bridget appears to feel that her family is slowly falling apart because she has grown up and her parents’ marriage seems to be ending. In each book, the main characters must find ways to make their own new families, each in different ways. The characters in Plainsong make up many different kinds of families. ... Tom loves his children, and the loss of their mother naturally hurts them very much. The fact that they are able to accept the loss of their mother and move on shows that they love and trust their father. Even though things are hard for him, he continues doing his job as their father. When Maggie joins their family at the end, she is not completing a broken family. She is just adding an extra piece to it. Maggie chooses the McPheron brothers to take care of Victoria and her baby because she knows that they need someone to take care of just as badly as Victoria needs someone to care for her. Because the two brothers live together, they don’t realize that they need someone else until they learn to love Victoria and her child. They don’t notice how alone they are until they aren’t alone anymore. Maggie is right in thinking that the brothers are the perfect people to take care of Victoria. Their kindness is apparent right away. In comparison to her cruel mother, the McPherons are so different that Victoria is confused by them, but they end up becoming the best possible family that Victoria and her baby could have found. Her abusive boyfriend wants to take her away and have a traditional family with her—a married couple and their child. Victoria has to choose between the traditional family that society expects her to have and the quirky alternative family she has found with the McPheron brothers. Victoria chooses to stay with the brothers because they are the ones who protect her and treat her kindly. Maggie Jones is the most important character in the book. She is the one who creates families. She doesn’t just bring Victoria and the McPheron brothers together, but also brings the family created by the McPherons, Victoria and her baby