Parent-Child-Relationships in Canadian Literature (King, Thomas: Green Grass, Running Water; Laurence, Margaret: A Bird in the House)

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 2 (B), Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (Institute for Anglistics/ American Studies), course: Canadian Literature, language: English, abstract: There are many different kinds of parent-child relationships: On the one hand there is the 'perfect' relationship, which means that the parents love their children and they love their parents. This seems to be wonderful, but there are also problems. For example, in some cases the people love their children so much that they become thoroughly spoilt. On the other hand there is the total 'family disaster', which means that in some cases the parents don't even have any contact with their children. Unfortunately, there are many relationships which have this character. All in all, it is very difficult for parents to build up a really good relationship to their children. Childhood is the most important time in a human's life: The children see their parents as the 'best' people in the world and expect them to behave like this. Later, when the children get older, they develop in different ways and it will be more difficult for the parents to do the right things. So, the expectations of the children remain the same, but they make it more difficult for their parents. In this way, there can develop many problems. Such parent-child relationships are one of the main subjects in A Bird in the House by Margaret Laurence and Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King. These two novels are about relationships and in which way these relationships work. Furthermore, it is talked about different kinds of people's behaviour and what effect it has on other people.