Analysis Of Dinner At The Homesick Restaurant By Anne Taylor

Desmond Tutu once said “You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.” The virtue of a family is present in the Tull family in the novel “Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant” by Anne Taylor. The novel is set in the 1930’s about a family who experiences many dysfunctionalities. The novel begins with the father Beck Tull leaving his wife Pearl and his three kids Cody, Ezra, and Jenny. Beck Tull’s distant nature and love for his job always caused him to leave for business trips as he would leave for many weeks, months , and eventually never came back . Pearl Tull raises her three children, Cody, ezra, and jenny alone with each member of the family having a dysfunctional quality. The story is told from the perspective of these characters …show more content…
Pearl Tull struggles to raise her family as the role model due to the abandonment of her husband. She craves the idea of a normal family because she wants to prove that she doesn't need Beck to have a happy family when in fact, him leaving caused the dysfunctionality. Pearl’s belief of not needing Beck was one of her many “issues”. She convinced herself that he had no place in the family as she would “stop referring to Beck” and would “throw away all his letters”, but deep in her heart she knew that “he’d be back” (11,20). Pearl thought of herself as the “center” of her kids “worlds” and that she “was everything to” them (141). Pearl’s denial is depicted through the fact that she constantly tries to make herself feel like she doesn't need Beck to have a normal