Pop Culture and Recent News

Family has a huge affect on current pop culture...

- Britney Spears and other famous figures gone bad are severely affected by their family. While Britney still can not get her act together in the name of her kids... yet others can. Some women can change completely like Katie Holmes and embrace motherhood. Her personality and lifestyle dramatically changed when she became a little mommy including running a marathon and really applying herself.

-USA Today reported about a program called IMPACT family counseling which strengthens the family relationship as it is one of the most important.

-Coach Joe Gibbs (Redskins) is leaving the team as a head coach... he stated that his family was his reason to leave. This shows that people change their careers and lifestyles based on family. If the family needs more attention, people will quit jobs.

- In Jacksonville, FL a child was born without a face... This impacted the family dramatically as they had to either live with her in this state or spend thousands of dollars to fix her face... Hopefully the drastic measures will be understandeable and not tear apart the family!

Crime and Punishment Blog

Raskolnikov is very affected by his family. He always feels guilty because his mother and sister gave so much for him to go to school and yet he dropped out and used up all of their money. This guilt causes him to rob and murder the old woman and Lizaveta. The reader sees the first big effect of family upon Rask when he recieves the letter from him mom. He is outraged that Dounia is marrying Pyotr Petrovich to better their circumstances rather than for love and he is disgusted that this man wants to marry a younger woman and not accomodate her. The relationship between Rask and his sister is very strong... she has a very calming effect upon him. He then is very rude to her fiance and this causes him to make new enemies. His love for his sister and his desire to have her not marry him change the course of his life and the way he acts. He becomes sick and delusional with his guilt for the murder (because of his poorness) and his personality totally changes as he is always on the defensive side, often betraying his family.

Henry IV, Part 1 and my BIG question

The relationship between Henry IV and his son Hal is very important in the play. The two have very different opinions on the topic of honor and the path of the noble. The two are not very close and Hal seeks an outside father figure. He finds refuge with his good friend and partner in crime, Falstaff. Henry is appalled by Hal's wantonness, wishing for another son. Hal thus questions his desire to act this way and tries to break free of his immoral actions. Under his father's pressure, Hal joins the military and becomes a great leader. In the end of the big battle against the Scots, he jumps in and saves his father from death. Because of his father's disapproval, Hal is led to greatness. His father and him also reconcile their relationship in the end because Henry sees Hal's display of nobility and honor in the battle.

Oedipus' Relation To My Question

Ultimately, Oedipus' family situation leads him to his death. He is so distraught by his fate of marrying his mother and killing his father, he kills himself. He escapes what he thought were his birth parents in order to avoid his fate, but eventually runs right into what the god's predicted. Not only does he kill himself, but his mental state is severly out of whack. It guides his every decision and from that point on he is driven to escape his miserable family situation.

Big Question!!

What impact does family have on one's life, personality, and outlook?!?

This question interests me because family plays a big role in the characters' lives and especially in my life. I come from a large, blended family. Something is always going on in my family's lives that causes it to be hectic and dramatic. Without the role of my family, I would not be who I am today. I have learned how to deal with diversity and how to not be influenced by other's decisions. I have also become very independent because my parents must attend to my sibling's needs. I also have learned the importance of family in one's life.

I wonder about this question because I want to know the role of family in other's lives. Does it influence others as heavily as it influences me? How are the main and minor characters affected by family? Do they do what they do because of they way their family is?