The Artificial Family

A detailed Summary of The Artificial Family


In Anne Tyler's "The Artificial Family," the personality and character of three individuals are revealed: Toby, Mary and Samantha. The story has no real resolution and seems to end where it began. The characters learn and unlearn by the time the story is complete. There is no long introduction or development of the characters; the characters develop throughout the short story. Tyler uses immediate dialogue making the story even more intriguing for the reader as well as writing simply; this style is ironic due to the intensity of the plot. The author makes it seem like a simple story about two individuals who rush into a relationship only to have it fall apart. However, the plot is much more intense than this.

There are two main themes of "The Artificial Family," love and communication. The conflict is between Toby and his wife Mary. Toby learns to love but does not ever learn how to communicate this love in a positive way with his wife. Another title that would work for this story w


The story begins with Mary's first words to Toby in their introduction to each other; "Did you know I have a daughter?" (400) This sets the focus of both of the characters into place. The daughter, Samantha, seems to be the neutral character in the story who not only ties the two main characters together but is used to separate them as well.

All three characters had one thing in common; they all wanted to be loved. Toby felt having them as his own was love. Mary wanted love but found herself being loved as second best. And Samantha found love from Toby but was taken away by her mom. All three sought for love and found it. Unfortunately, they did not learn how to communicate love with each other. The story "The Artificial Family" leaves the reader with a sense of tragedy. It was tragic that the marriage ended so quickly and so abruptly.

Toby is presented as a young college student who is in graduate school on scholarships. He is studying science and seems easy going. He is simple but not a flat ch

Some common words found in the essay are:
Toby Samantha, Toby Mary, Mary Samantha, Artificial Family, Artificial Love, Mary Toby, artificial family, learn communicate love, artificial love, communicate love, learn communicate, story artificial, love found, love story, toby mary,

Approximate Word count = 684
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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