Research Enhanced Interpretation of a Short Story Paper - 1

Enhanced Interpretation of a Short Story - Research Paper Example Just like Grace dropped college in order to continue an affair with a married man, who was also much older than her, Hassan is a lazy, spoiled child who achieves his goals by cheating. Neither of them is able to accomplish the daring dreams of their parents. Although a character like Maureen would never admit it, she is pretty much similar to Hassan’s father, as she always tried to influence her daughter’s destiny and lead her to the ‘right path’, ignoring the child’s real wishes and intentions. Nonetheless, she has the wisdom to ultimately accept her daughter’s decisions. On the other hand, there is an interesting parent – child relation between Maureen and her old mother. Maureen hates all the similarities between her mother and herself, and is extremely jealous of her mother’s close relationship to her granddaughter. On her turn, her mother is obviously enjoying the fact that she was preferred to Maureen, and obviously never misses an opportunity to lecture her daughter. Therefore, due to unrealistic expectations and hurt feelings, each of these relationships is a living failure. Besides, there is a broader parent – child relationship generated by Maureen’s profession as a teacher, and her connection to each of her students – as it is obvious that her indulgence for Hassan’s idleness and lies is somewhat motherly – until the day she catches him cheating on the exam. Then, she decides to adopt a different attitude, by punishing him. Nando Pelusi says in the article ‘Parents and Children in Conflict’, published on the website Psychology Today: ‘I always suspected that my father had it in for me. My dad was a brilliant showman and comedian who turned angry and intolerant around me. Perhaps our most authentic exchange occurred when, as an adult, I finally confronted him about his feelings toward me. He admitted that he thought that his new opportunities had been quashed by parenthood. Harsh? Sure. But