Failure

A detailed Summary of Failure

In the United States, print and electronic media advertisements are full of images of the perfect family: usually proud parents with a happy and healthy child. New parents expect the fulfillment of a high-quality relationship with their newborn. So what happens when this fixation of happiness goes awry? How do the parents cope with failure when their child is born with some sort of imperfection? "Wednesday's Child" by Joyce Carol Oates shows how one family succumbs to deceit and immorality due to the chronic disability of their only child.

At first glance, it seems as if the family couldn't be any happier. The father has become successful at a young age. The mother is attractive and has anything she could ever want. Their beautiful daughter Brenda, at the tender age of six, has two loving parents who adore her. All of Arthur's friends are trying to match what he has achieved by attaining more and more worldly possessions that in the end are meaningless. This seemingly perfect family however, is on the verge of destruction. The parent's hopelessness leads to thoughts of divorce and wanting to abandon their only child. Brenda's parents feel this way because they have let their daughter's disability get the best o

As a statement of her devotion and loyalty to the marriage, Arthur's wife tried her hardest to make it work. Part of this effort included holding her tongue when Arthur talked about his day at work. Much of Arthur's babbling included things that were going wrong at work, and she realized that this was to prevent her from talking about Brenda or about her own problems. Arthur's wife kept busy by constantly vacuuming up the broken spaghetti strands that Brenda dropped while chewing on them. Begrudgingly, she graced Arthur with her presence at all of his superficial dinner parties. The wife's constant effort caused her to become so emotionally and physically exhausted that she would daydream about what it would be like to spend time with another man. These lustful and imaginative thoughts filled her mind instantly at the slightest brush of her arm by another man.

Many different factors add to the negative condition of this marriage, one being the husband's perversion. Arthur's grotesque thoughts are also why his relationship with Brenda is truthfully not a relationship at all. At the beginning of the story Arthur mentioned that "he loved her knees." In the opinion of most people, this kind of remark would be considered out of place. Many would even call it perverted. Arthur's physical perception of Brenda is much different than the majority of other American fathers who have daughters. Since Brenda's father can't interact with her in any other way, Arthur talks himself into thinking that inappropriate behavior is acceptable. Arthur's perversion made itself evident again towards the end of the story when he saw a middle-aged man in an overcoat appear out of nowhere running towards Brenda. The stranger collided with Brenda and stood over her screaming into her face and shaking her. The reader is left to ima

Some common words found in the essay are:
Carol Oates, Brenda Additionally, Maybe Brenda's, Failure United, Ultimately Brenda, arthur's wife, brenda's parents, perfect family, daughter's disability, parents stopped, daughter parents, special school,

Approximate Word count = 1236
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous