*clarify the parts that says “clarify”

*add a quote from my father’s life(8-10 words, it can be about the toilet part) or your choice.

*replace the title with a more impressive one.

*please make your adjustments with red so I’d spot them easily.

Raymond carver my father’s life:

http://public.wsu.edu/~hughesc/raymond_carver-fathers_lif.htm

Attached is the essay with notes to clarify and revise.

Family Matters

The idea that a family needs to be held together by responsible parents and a willingness to help the children grow into what they aspire to seem to be the main cause of lost lives among the three boys who never achieve anything past young life in the novella by Stephen King ‘The Body’. Likewise, Raymond’s story about his father seems to hold a similar view although with a slight difference because even after all the embarrassment that Raymond suffers as a child, he can come out successful as Raymond junior in the teens and achieve success later in life. Similarly, Gordie in the novella is the only one who makes something out of himself from the four boys. Seemingly, his early love for reading and an innate desire to achieve and to help others led him develop into a very successful horror story writer at a college level. But we forget where he comes from, let’s explore the idea of family as seen in the novella.

The four boys; Chris, Gordie, Vern, and Teddy, come from lonely families in which they try to escape the lives of misery from their unadaptable homes by finding binding friendships with each other. When they hear about a body they might discover that of a young man who had gone missing they decide their quest for fame and went out to find the body and become famous. Working from their actions, it is true that these four boys lacked the necessary family background that would urge them into a blissful successful life. Vern, who was the carrier of the good fortune, had been on a treasure hunt outside his porch of pennies he had hidden four years ago. “Probably he was afraid Billy would laugh and say, Course I got them, you stupid pussy.”(King, 310) The family animosity can be felt in the two brothers association where one is afraid to learn the truth for fear of mockery. This trait is what strengthens the friendship bond they else have. They are sure that they needed to do something even though it is stupid or daring, to become famous. Chris states that “my father will hide me away, he is on a really mean streak this time”(King, 315), referring to him being out trying to find the body, but he decides he has more to gain than lose if they find the corpse. In their quest to look for the body, we find the terrible premonition of death looming in the undertones of the writer. Two of the boys are almost overrun by a train as they cross a bridge. It is not lost to the critical eye of a keen reader that it is a death that sends them on this risky mission. As friends, they stand stronger than family ties could ever bind them. In an instance of pure coincidence, Gordie is the only person the rest of the group thinks has a bright future. He is into literature, and Chris predicts a bright future for him. However, Vern and Gordie almost die in this incident by a train. The author does not seem to hide the looming doomed lives that these four boys face.

When they finally find Ray Brower’s body, Ace leads a gang of bullies in their teenage and harass the boys. Important to note, the bullies include two brothers of these other smaller kids that are “Vern’s and Chris’ brother’’, yet they do not stand up for the family. The fight escalates until Chris pulls out a gun on the other gang, his brother included, and they have to give up and leave. The idea that family is not firm in this setup is a clear indication that the author sees no reason to justify that a family would indeed make any of these boys famous or successful. They believe in their risk-taking journey and their strong bond that this will make them successfully look for a brighter future. In the end, this incident of the corpse being found is delayed by the envious gang who tip authorities anonymously. The opposition that these gangs or rather groups of friends harbor is perceptible and the tension caused in their confrontation makes the reader wonder if they do not understand that they are family members.

The idea of family is broad set in the essay by Raymond. As a young man, he seems to be very keen about what name he chooses to adopt. The family name gives him the identity. Considering with the four characters from King’s novella, the four did not at any given time think anything about their families prestigious or worth mentioning. (When the wife of Raymond, receives news that Raymond is dead, the first person she thinks about is her husband until the mother in law has to explain it’s the senior Raymond who died)(you can remove this part or clarify it so it flows in the same harmony with the rest of the essay) . In the years before his death, he had resulted in hopeless drinking act and Raymond was never worried. The man had outlived himself and Raymond had nothing to emulate him. We learn that the family ties never broke even after a noisy beginning that led the family weaken in poverty and Raymond grow up as an embarrassed teenager. The background that he offers about his family and the toilet is a clear indication that he thought that the family, through his father who was an alcoholic, should have done more than just offer him a name. In as much as he is successful, he does cry at his father’s funeral, not because he had offered the best for him, but because the people remembered his family name and associated it with his father. It would be unclear why he mourns because the father had not been a very convenient father but he sure played a role in his becoming the person he became, and he struggled not to be his father’s reincarnation. Earlier when the son and mother had visited the sick father at Chester, Raymond says “I didn’t recognize him for a moment. I guess for a moment I didn’t want to recognize him” (Raymond,39). This shows the detachment that had developed in these two Raymonds that Raymond junior is almost embarrassed by his father who was drinking “Raw Whiskey” in his last moments.

The two texts are different in the themes they disseminate, but the idea of the role of the family in making the child into a successful person lacks and the authors amplify the diversified effects of a strong family. The side by side analysis reveals that a family background is important and chances of making it in life without their support are slim to none.