I am confused with Charlie’s family dynamic. The first few letters made me think that Charlie’s dad was abusive and cruel. He constantly referred to his mom and wrote, “and my mom was quiet” (6,12). I thought she was quiet because she was fearful of her husband. Later, we find out that Charlie’s dad has a soft and kind heart, especially when he watched the season finale of M*A*S*H and cried. Charlie addresses his dad and says that that he was only slapped once and his dad pleaded for forgiveness. I am still confused why the mom allows the dad to boss her around if he is not abusive. Aside from being unusually quiet, the dad orders her to do things like take care of Charlie and make a sandwich. I hope Charlie addresses his parent's relationship soon. 
I think the purpose of the mom's small and quiet comments were to show that even though the dad was the one was in charge most of the time when the mom chimed in it was serious. I did not find the dad to be abusive until he hit him and my opinion turned back around when he said "the only time he ever slapped me was when I made my Aunt Helen cry...he decided...he would never hit his kids"(26). So it was a one time thing after Charlie must have been really bad.
ReplyDeleteI agree with that, I also see a lot of Charlie's parents in himself. Most prominently he shows his mothers quiet passive features being a "wallflower." Yet he still manages to have his aggressive angry side from his father, such as when he beat up the kid that was bulling him.
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