Like Father, Like Son: An Analysis on the Development and Complexities of Kin Relations
A sociological thought piece, Chris McKinney’s The Tattoo is bursting with toxic relationships. Amongst these, McKinney uses the strained kinship between Ken Hideyoshi and his father to partially explain how people fall into cycles of violent behaviour. To understand the richness of the text, violence will be characterised as the intentional or unintentional application of force, and/or power resulting in psychological, emotional and/or physical harm, whether it is for the perpetrator’s advantage or not. Thus, a wide definition is given to encompass the numerous acts of harm occurring throughout the novel. Ken’s father is a man instilled with traditional values and beliefs. Therefore, strength and fearlessness are expected to be in Ken to make him tough and prepared to face the world. The reader witnesses these notions take root and unfurl into his father’s ideas of the epitome of hegemonic masculinity. Consequently, this essay will analyse the connection between Ken Hideyoshi and his father as it progresses throughout the novel by looking at how socialisation, hegemonic masculinity and family violence lead impressionable people into deviant lifestyles. Ken and his father’s relationship can be viewed from an ecological model. This is where there are factors at the individual, interpersonal, communal and structural level that either facilitate, inhibit or protect one from violence.
The novel “The Tattoo” by Chris McKinney, holds a captivating story that addresses the hardships of Kenji Hideyoshi upbringing and life experiences. Ken is a new inmate at the correctional center in Hawala. During the process of being tattooed, Ken shares a significant life story of his sufferings regarding the three suns’ of his life. The three suns of Ken’s life include his family, friends, and intimate partner. However, this essay will specifically discuss the relationship between Ken and his father. This essay will also analyse sociological theories such as “socialisation” and “hegemonic masculinity” in connection to their relationship.
The movie When a Man Loves a Woman is about a couple and how their lives and the lives of their two young girls change because of addiction. The article entitled Family Functioning in Families with Alcohol and Other Drug Addictions talks about four major themes that are present in families that suffer from addiction. This paper will look at the family dynamics of the Green family from When a Man Loves a Woman and also discuss how the research results from the article also relates to the family.
When a man fails to live up to other’s expectations of being a “real man,” he is diminished and criticized for being a “woman.” Thus, starting at young ages, boys are fall into the misleading idea that respect is acquired by force. In fact, younger boys look up to men who display uncontrollable rage because these men evoke fear to those around them. Boys are taught that fear is equivalent to respect, and society’s perception of belligerent men only fuels their drive for violence. The phenomenon of posing - creating a false depiction of what men are truly feeling - showcases that this widespread performance of masculinity does not just stem from the media. The explanation of this projection of masculinity is oversimplified, and identified as cause and effect relationships between imitative violent acts from video games and movies. However, the actual truth is that the problem does not only lie in these few few places. It is everywhere, embedded deeply in
The film, Precious, is a powerfully charged story that delves into the family dynamics of a 16-year-old girl and her struggles to survive an onslaught of treacherous experiences. Throughout the film, the viewer is enveloped in a dramatic web of extreme situations, experienced by the main character, and those to whom she is close. The themes of domestic violence, rape, incest, drug addiction, gambling, poverty, social justice, social services, housing and education are laced together throughout the story. Particularly poignant attention is paid to various systems that help shape the experiences of the characters. The social services industry, and its associated workers, educators and administrators, set the foundation for the social themes that are highlighted by this film.
Father and Son by Bernard McLaverty 'Father and Son' by Bernard McLaverty is a short story which is set in
Musui 's Story is a samurai 's autobiography that portrays the Tokugawa society as it was lived during Katsu Kokichi 's life (1802 - 1850). Katsu Kokichi (or Musui) was a man born into a family with hereditary privilege of audience with the shogun, yet he lived a life unworthy of a samurai 's way, running protection racket, cheating, stealing, and lying. Before we discuss how Musui 's lifestyle was against the codes that regulated the behavior of the samurai, it is essential that the role of the samurai in Japanese society be understood.
In the study of agronomy, it is the basic understanding that the root is the most important component of any plant. In the dictionary, the word root is defined as the part of the plant that latches to the ground for support, growth, and nutrition. Now any reader maybe wondering where my mind is wondering to, when I start a paper with such an obvious fact. However, in this case it is not just a fact, it is an analogy for something much deeper. In the African American culture, it is not uncommon to refer to someone as a “fictive kin”. Fictive kin is a term dubbed for someone who is either not related or indirectivity related to oneself. So, in other terms if the individual is not either a direct sibling, guardian, uncle, aunt, grandparent, or cousin, but they have left a positive impact on oneself they are considered fictive kin. This term was formed back in the slave trafficking days, when families where torn apart, and individuals were forced to form bonds with individuals who were not directly related to them. In today’s world, this word is still popular in this demographic, but has morphed in meaning and expanded into other living segments as well. Even though, I am not African American, I still share a similar experience of dubbing someone I love my fictive kin.
Katsu Kokichi’s autobiography, “Musui’s Story,” documents the life of a samurai in Japan’s late Tokugawa period who adopted the name Musui in his retirement. Katsu is something of a black sheep within his family, being largely uneducated and deemed unfit for the bureaucratic office 's samurai of his standing were expected to hold. As such, he typifies in many ways the lower ronin, or masterless samurai, many of whom famously led roaming, directionless lives and wreaked havoc among the urban poor and merchant classes. The novel addresses the decaying power of samurai throughout the Tokugawa period and depicts their struggle to find purpose. Throughout the story, Katsu is impacted by three interconnected systems of power that impact his life
In Giles Milton’s novel, Samurai William, the reader is taken to the other side of the globe to experience the history of old world Japan. Though out the book, Milton provides reason for complex historical events and actions, while still communicating the subtleties and mysterious customs of the Japanese. The novel also closely examines the wide range of relationships between different groups of Europeans and Asians, predominantly revolving around the protagonist, William Adams. The book documents the successes and failures that occur between the two civilizations, then links them back to either the positive or negative relationship they have. As the book goes on, the correlation is obvious. Milton shows us the extreme role that religion,
Burgess and Draper argue coercive patterns of family interaction represent the principal causal pathway that connects ecological instability to violence within families. They maintain this raises the possibility that some of the common correlates of such violence are themselves reactions to sudden or chronic ecological instability. For example, alcoholism, depression, and anxiety may be responses to ecological stresses in the family, such as loss of employment, excessive financial debt, or divorce. Burgess and Draper suggest that violence towards one's mate or children may consequently be a direct result of ecological
The Symbolic Interaction theory refers to ways in which a family or society attaches meaning to verbal communication, non-verbal communication, people, and objects. We are taught from a young age communication using verbal language and accepted ways to express our needs. The theory represents perception of objects or actions (Macionis, 2007, p.17).
The theory that best connects with the issue of family violence is systems theory. This theory entails that the “family as a system is thought to be best understood through the recognition that family members (as the parts of the system) interact with one another in such a manner that, over time, these interactions become patterned behavior” (Sutphin, McDonough, Schrenkel, 2013) Every family member that is within this family are characterized as subsystems. The main sub-systems are parent-parent, parent-child, and child-child. In most cases, what happens in the parent-parent relationship impacts both the parent-child relationship and the child-child relationship. A type of violence that can occur between the parent and parent relationship
In her book The Unfinished Revolution, Kathleen Gerson argues that today, family pathways are more important than family structure. In this context, family structure refers to the organization of a family, and the way that it has been changing as a result of the gender revolution. For example, some nontraditional family structures that are explored in the book include double parent families with both parents earning, single parent families (mostly single mothers), and families with same-sex parents. Gerson argues that while family structures are not negligible, it is family pathways that are more important for the children of the gender revolution. That is to say, the children value the dynamics of their family more than the structure. They are more concerned about how well their parents are able to provide them with the necessary emotional and financial support than they are about how well their families follow a norm. For them, it is more about feeling like they’re part of a family rather than just physically being in one. Gerson emphasizes this when she explains that the people she interviewed “focused on the long-term consequences of parental choices, not on the specific form or type of home these choices produced at any one moment in time.” One important implication of this argument is the way in which the children of the gender revolution imagine their own romantic relationships unfolding. Even there, they prioritize a feeling rather than a format. For example, one
Many directors use their films as a means of glorifying, criticizing, or simply depicting, a particular ideological system. These ideologies are especially visible in foreign films, as the viewer is forced to assess the film from outside his or her culture and ideology, and consider the film in its proper context. Director Akira Kurosawa’s Japanese film Seven Samurai allows the viewer to understand several important aspects of Japanese culture and ideology. First, the film depicts the Japanese social class structure and its acceptance by the masses. Seven Samurai also reveals the pride of the Japanese, as well as the utilitarian, collectivist nature of their society.
The family unit across the globe is valued by almost all cultures as the most important social structure in which humans form the tightest bonds. Now significant evidence to suggest that within the family structure the relationship and interaction between siblings is the most impactful relationship of a human’s lifetime. Researchers have only recently become interested in the unique relationship between siblings. Siblings have been found to advance one another’s social, emotional, and cognitive development (Mcguire and Shanahan, 2010). Researchers are now are posing the question, “Are our relationships with our siblings the most important of all?”