Families Portrayed In Roddy Doyles Books Essay -- essays research pape

Families Portrayed In Roddy Doyles Books     Why do we hear so much ab break family these eld? Perhaps it is becauserelationships between family members are assumed to be the prototype for each(prenominal)other social relations. In the novels, The Commitments, The Snapper and The Van,Roddy Doyle shows his support of the family as an institution. from each one instancedemonstrates strength and direction within the family unit. However, when thestability of the family is threatened, each character breaks down along with thefamily itself.     When we think of family tone we associate happiness, a life of sharingmemories and developing unbreakable friendships. It is easy to create a familythat is get in believe, we just tend to leave the ugly side of the relationshipout. It may be current that there is a family that lives like the "Cleavers" inour society today, but speaking realistically every family will sectionalizationeventu ally. In an interview about his novels the author said, "I didnt set outto capture the good in every family, or bad for that matter, I just wanted toshow a typical Irish family."1 Doyles writing is real--he deals with issuesthat might not hit home with every subscriber however, they are events thatconfront some(prenominal) people every day. The Rabbitte family is used in all three novelsthat make up the "Barrytown Trilogy." While the times are both good and bad forthe eight members of this Irish family, in both(prenominal) way they find a way overcomeevery occupation that faces them.     One of Doyles strengths is his feel for personality his characters areneither devils nor clowns, dolts nor wits, but totter between the extremes."Theyre fish gutters and mechanics, young knockabouts and unemployed workerswho spend a luck of time watching T.V. drinking Guinness and jawing at the pub,trying to stave sullen the feelings that they are nonde script people in anondescript world."2     The Commitments is Doyles first full-length novel. The main characterJimmy Rabbitte, the eldest son, puts together a band. It is almost everyteenagers dream, at some point, to be known playing music in front of largegroups of people. In fact, this is how this concord started off. In the end,however, it turns out to be the complete opposite. Doyle captures ... ... about unemployment and welfare. One shadow when thefamily is eating Darren says something to mental disturbance his father whose reply is           "Darren, dont you forget who paid for tha dinner party in front ofyou, son, righ          -I know who paid for it, said Darren. -The state did."7     This reaction not only made Jimmy Sr. upset but, he came to terms withthe fact that he was going nowhere and if he wanted things to get better he hadbet ter get a job soon.     The Rabittes may have gone through times when they wanted to kill eachother, but other times they cared. Doyle is a down-to-earth writer, he showsthe way of life for many families with the use of slang in his writing and hisabillity to capture humour when the times are hard. The Rabbitte family sharedmany bonds, they had many memories and of course many fights, but they are afamily. They may be fictional but they represent a modern family. It is truethat when the stability of the family is threatened, each character breaks downalong with the family itself.