Jim The Boy Cissy Analysis

Superior Essays
Traditional families commonly contain one man and woman, usually married, living in the same house with their children (East 604). People commonly view traditional families as functional families, but if a family does not serve as a traditional one, does that mean the family represents a dysfunctional one? During the novel Jim the Boy by Tony Earley, the reader follows a young boy, Jim, who lives in a less than traditional family with his widowed mother, Cissy, and her three older brothers, Zeno, Coran, and Al. Within the story, Jim’s uncles pressure Cissy to get remarried for the sole purposes of giving Jim a father and her refusal of results in her “depriving Jim of the masculine companionship necessary for the proper forming of young boys”, but Cissy argues that her brothers fit that role (Earley 139). Jim’s uncles help raise Jim since birth, mentor him throughout his life, and love him as their own child, and yet they still believe Jim cannot develop appropriately because he has a single mother. Children growing up in fatherless families could have behavioral problems later in life such as …show more content…
Having a healthy, loving relationship with secure, stable attachments with family will help create a feeling of security and help with self-confidence in a child (East 610). “Men expresses regret and sadness when met with the absence of an older male mentor” (East 611). Any older male can serve as an emotional substitute for a father to a child, and they do not need to begin as the child’s father. That represents the reason why Jim acts like a normal boy because he had not one, not two, but three men, who love Jim dearly, serving as the father figure he needs. Though Jim does wish he could have met his dad and it does hurt him that he will never have the chance to meet him, he does not want a new one because he already has three (Earley

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    “Family and peer group mezzo systems are dynamically involved in children’s growth, development, and behavior” (Zastrow, 2013, p. 166). The influences on both Wes Moore’s from their family and peers greatly contributed to their decision-making, critical thinking and outlook of life, which played a part in their outcomes. In the beginning of The Other Wes Moore, Wes (2) told Wes (1) when speaking about their fathers that “You father wasn’t there because he couldn’t be, my father wasn’t there because he chose not to be. We’re going to mourn in their absence in different ways” (p. 3). I believe that the lack of having a father was the first factor in these men destinies because other male figures in their families stepped up.…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In society, a family is made up of two or more members, that can be related by blood, marriage, or adoption. But around the world some people have a family that is different from other's based on the way their culture has taught them to be. A better way to understand the meaning of family is to apply the three major sociological theories. The first theory is the Functionalist by Emile Durkheim which explains that society has to follow certain functions and how the basic needs are helpful to live in any kind of society there is in this world. The way to understand this theory by applying it to family is the incest taboo that makes mandatory to look for a partner from a different family that is not your own.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Differences in Gender Socialization Between Hispanic and American Families Gender socialization is learning the social expectations and attitudes associated with the gender of the individual. Gender socialization explains why males and females behave in different ways and why they learn different social roles. The biological sex will determine how the individual will be treated (Raffaelli & Ontai, 2004). Parents engage in differential socialization regarding the expectations on males and females (Raffaelli & Ontai, 2004).…

    • 1863 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Other Wes Moore

    • 1521 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The book is a valuable tool that can be used to educate other how young lives can be changed in an instant from making bad choices. Although, the book gives the reader the impression both Wes’s had the same opportunities; I disagree, the life of these men are very different, because of their family support system and mentoring each one of them received Analysis “Studies have shown that a fatherless male and females are prone to…

    • 1521 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Descendants – A Clinical Competency Review Cynthia Evon Banks Murray Argosy University – Inland Empire PC6022 – Family Therapy Counseling August 14, 2014 James Cephas, PsyD The Descendants – A Clinical Competency Review This paper will perform a biopsychosocial assessment of the King family, ascertain which family therapy theory would lead to the best outcome, and develop an effective treatment plan. Reason for Referral The King family of Honolulu, Hawaii is made up of husband/father, Matthew – age 50, and wife/mother, Elizabeth – age 50. They have two daughters, Alex – age 17 and Scottie – age 10.…

    • 3569 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Symbolic Interactionism In The Family

    • 1134 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 5 Works Cited

    Conflict can take the form of competing goals as well as different role expectations. A working mother, for instance, wishes to split the housework in half, but her husband maintains that household chores are her responsibility and not a man’s. A family’s difference in age, sex and personalities will also contribute to the natural occurrence of…

    • 1134 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 5 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Robert Penn Warren’s thrilling novel All the King’s Men begins to sound like a story written in the narrator, Jack Burden’s eyes, about a man he worked for named Willie Stark. However, it is nothing more than a representation of who Jack is as a person and character in the story and how it progresses. Willie Stark is known as one of Jack’s father figures because not only does he offer Jack a job, he manages to show Jack how to redeem himself. Jack’s mother had several men in her and her son’s life. Two of them became Jack’s father figures, one of them is known as the Scholarly Attorney (Jack’s mom’s first husband).…

    • 1226 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The influence of two fathers: Charles Bragg vs. Westley Moore (contrast) Fathers are an important part of their sons' healthy emotional, physical, and mental growth from their first moments of life. Boys whose fathers love them and demonstrate that love in consistent, caring ways have fewer issues later in life with peers, (related to school and learning), and irresponsible, illegal behavior (htt). Charles Bragg and Westley Moore were major influences in their son’s lives because of their lack of presence, how they treated their mothers, and their affect as positive or negative role models for their sons. Though on the surface it may seem that Charles Bragg and Westley Moore had a lack of presence in their son’s lives; the difference was…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many people consider family to be a very important and significant part of their lives. Our modern and mobile world makes it hard to maintain close family relationships. With practice and effort, we can not only maintain but build quite strong family relationships. The first chapter in the textbook Interface English, by John Green, forces the reader to come to a conclusion: Do family ties tangle or strengthen?”…

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In the book, The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap by Stephanie Coontz, the author deconstructs various types of stereotypes and myths embodied by television shows that romanticize family life and gender roles. Coontz (1992) states that these idealizations promote the “traditional family” myth which she describes as “an ahistorical amalgam of structures, values, and behaviors that never coexisted in time and place” (p.9). The notions derived from this myth are a compound of characteristics that resemble mid-nineteenth century and early 20th century paradigms concerning family life (Coontz, 1992, p.9). Coontz (1992) describes both components in detail in Chapter 1 describing the first as a mother-child oriented family…

    • 1998 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    However, Carver still loved him and was there for him when he was sick and helped him with his work in the mill. That seems that a father is a teenager who is making trouble constantly and a son is a father who is taking care of his son. Which is not supposed to be happened because its father’s responsibility to take care of the family instead of wasting all the money on drinking and having relationships with other women instead of his own wife. Coontz also discusses how men’s involvement in the family is very important and how it helps to grow deeper relationship with their partner and children. Coontz said: “Men’s greater involvement at home is good for their relationships with their partners and also good for their children” (Coontz, 99).…

    • 1398 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Child Abuse Sociology

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Current conceptions of child abuse and neglect in Western society are strongly correlated with the historical and ongoing social construction of childhood. Childhood is not something that is natural or a biological stage of life. During the course of this essay, it will be argued that in Western society families and childhood are socially constructed and definitions of childhood change with definitions of child abuse and neglect through space and time. Families are socially constructed because they are seen as this safe, stable, loving, heterosexual, patriarchal and nuclear family (Mandell & Duffy, 2011, p.278). There is also this belief that families are a safe haven and a place of security (McCauley, 2015).…

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Analysis of Compass and Torch Losing your relationship to your dad is very rough and nobody wants to make that experience. In the short story Compass and Torch from Elizabeth Baines that was published in 2003. The story is about a son and a fathers relationship. While they are on a camping trip the sons desire is to be united with his dad again, so they have a good relationship again.…

    • 761 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Analyzing Kinship in a Cross Cultural Context In the Western world, there are common ideologies on what is considered a “normal” family. The idea of the Nuclear family with one mom and one dad raising their own kids is still considered to be the ideal family. However, in many societies, such as the Nandi people in Kenya and the Andean people in Ayacucho Peru, kinship is more important than biology. In Toronto, social organizations still only cater to the Western ideologies of who is best to raise children.…

    • 1583 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    The family is considered to an important part of society by most sociologists. The family is said to be a close domestic group comprised of people related to one another by bonds of blood, sexual mating, or legal ties. The family has adapted over time and there are many different forms of families. The patriarchal family is one of the many types of families that exist in society today. It is a form of the family ‘where the male figure is considered the head’.…

    • 1692 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays

Related Topics