The archetype of destruction wrought by conflict seething within the family dynamic is best exemplified in Hanif Kureishi’s“My Son, the Fanatic”when “Parvez [kicks Ali] over… [He knows] the boy is unreachable, but he [strikes] him nonetheless.” Broadly speaking, conflicts in familial relationships are among those most familiar to society, as they exist in relationships with which nearly everyone has experience. However, despite these issues, as a direct result of relationships tending toward their more stable, reconciled state, family members more often than not find ways in which to resolve their differences and find peace. Hence, in accordance with its long-held tradition of mirroring the struggles experienced by the societies in which it is born, literature has come to reflect these behaviors of human life. Three works, “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, and “My Son, the Fanatic” by Hanif Kureishi, converge upon the common theme that bilateral conflict arises in familial relationships when parties cannot accept each other as they are, and one attempts to impose its own will forcibly upon another. Conversely, the aforementioned works also show that reconciliation of such conflict is enabled when both parties accept one another despite their differences.
Question: One of the “universal themes” of many of these stories involves reconciliation. Think about what causes conflict in familial relationships and what enables reconciliation. Choose THREE works of literature and discuss this theme.
