The Importance of Family

Families are a group of people who have a special bond with each other, whether it be a mother's love for her children, or parents' love for each other. In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Francie's family was not perfect. Katie's relationship was failing, and Johnny was slowly killing himself. But, the family was still functioning. Francie still felt loved and They were still happy together and they felt comfortable with each other. Kingsolver states in "Stone Soup", "Arguing about whether nontraditional families deserve pity or tolerance is a little like the medieval debate about left-handedness as a mark of the devil. Divorce, remarriage, single parenthood, gay parents, and blended families simply are." She says that families don't have to be "correct" to be functioning families. A family's importance has nothing to do with what the families is comprised of, but it has to do with their chemistry; does the group make a suitable environment for children. The importance of a family is dependent upon how the people work together and feel together. A badly put together family can have devastating effects on the children. They can feel mistreated or unloved. The quality of the child's mental health correlates with the quality of the family they grew up in. Johnny describes a scene in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, "'I am not a happy man. I got a wife and children and I don’t happen to be a hard-working man. I never wanted a family.' Again, that hurt around Francie’s heart. He didn’t want her or Neeley? … Papa was no good. He said so himself. But she liked Papa better.
'I love my wife and I love my children.' Francie was happy again." This quote shows how the well being of her father directly effected how Francie felt. It also shows how Francie felt bad when she thought her papa didn't want her. As the quote shows, the well being of a family is directly displayed in the well being of a resulting child. The essay "Stone Soup" says, "Call it what you will--when ex-spouses beat swords into plowshares and jump up and down at a soccer game together, it makes for happy kids." Children reflect how the family feels through their own emotions. A family who is happy -- just as the quote says -- makes for happy children.