Sunday in the park, by Bel kaufman, begins with a family enjoying a beautiful day at the park. Larry the little boy was minding his own business playing in the sandbox hardly even realizing that there was another boy in the sandbox. He shortly starts to notice him as the boy now starts to bully him by throwing sand in his face. Larry at this point seems as if he is going to cry and looks to get his mother’s attention. His mother tells the other child that what he is doing is not okay and it needs to stop. All that does is start more conflict with the other child’s father. The bully’s father tells him to continue throwing sand. This then starts conflict between the two fathers. The bully’s father seemed as if he was a lot bigger …show more content…
The way Morton reacted and took care of the situation made him seem as if he was a coward. Morton says, “Come on let’s get out of here. He walked awkwardly, almost limping with self-consciousness, to the sandbox.” Not only did he let himself down, but he also let his wife down. You know something is wrong with her because she says, “Yet beneath it there was a layer of something else, something heavy and inescapable. She sensed that it was more than just and unpleasant incident, more than defeat of a reason by force.” I believe that she thinks that he is not doing his proper duty as a father to their family. He should be making them feel safe and doing whatever it takes to do that. She just wanted to feel protected by Morton and a good role model to their …show more content…
She just wanted to see action from Morton showing he can do what’s right by sticking up for his family. That may be why Larry is the way he is and why he couldn’t stick up for himself in the sandbox. Instead of sticking up for himself the first things he does is look up at his mother as if he wanted to start crying. I know that Larry is very young, but if you think about it he shares his father’s behaviors because Larry doesn’t know any better. He learns based off of what he sees from him father. That’s why Morton’s wife was so let down and upset about the whole situation. Morton needs to teach his child how to stick up for himself and how to have confidence in what he thinks is right. It’s just difficult putting the whole blame on Morton though. Morton should have assured his family that he would do everything in his power to make them feel protected. The only thing is that no matter what he chooses to do with the situation he loses either way. If he chooses to stick up for him and his family he will just end up getting beat up and letting his family down either way. No matter what he is considered the one doing all the wrong. The only thing he can really do find a new approach of figuring out a way of pleasing his wife and kid by making them feel safe and proud of