Didn T Ask To Be Born Analysis

This paper is about the analysis of the radio segment “This American Life”, the episode titled “Didn’t Ask to be Born”. The episode is based off of the show American High, where a teen; Morgan is fighting with his parents about which car he can take out, the good car, the corolla or the bad car, the acclaim. This episode portrays how different families fight. Based on the concept of family, symbolic interactionalists state that family is a social construct and it is created, changed and maintained in interaction. This family reveals that their way of fighting is through entertainment. The narrator of the show Ira Glass, brings us two different stories. The stories are about parents worst case scenarios. The first story about two girls: Stephanie and Amanda, that ran away due to the actions of their mother: Debra Gwertney. Amanda was born when Debora was 21 years old. She described her relationship with her as an overwhelming …show more content…
Come christmas eve, Debora suggested to write a letter to Stephanie. Amanda started to write for over an hour. “I just asked her a lot of questions. Why are you doing this? What are you trying to accomplish at this point? You're hurting us all so bad. Please, let's try to work this out. Please call. Please tell us you're alive. Please be alive” (Amanda, Act 1). After the letter was finished, they took them outside and lit them on fire. They didn’t want to hear what Stephanie had to say. At this point they were done and she was on her own. Amanda and Debora said prayers that Stephanie would call, or came home safe.”I've never been so completely sad and just ruined. I mean, Stephanie wasn't even my child. She was just my sister and my best friend” (Amanda). Somehow, they knew that Stephanie was okay. “Stephanie was 14 years old, and she got herself down to Texas and got a job and lived in an apartment and paid bills”