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Portrayal of Families and Relationships
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Portrayal of Families and Relationships
A family unit is considered as the most essential unit in a society. In the traditional
settings, a family consisted of a man as the head of the family, his wife, and children. However,
in several cultures, a man had the moral obligation to marry more than one wife forming a
polygamous family unit. In the modern world, there exists several forms of family set ups which
are widely recognized as nontraditional families including, cohabitation, single-parent families,
blended families, same-sex families, and families where grandparents are the sole guardians to
their grandchildren. In the film Forrest Gump directed by Robert Zemeckis, the main character’s
families in which they are brought up are an example of nontraditional families (Zemeckis,
1994). Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump) is raised by Sally Field (Gump’s mom) who struggles to see
him join school despite having a lower Intelligence Quotient (IQ). On the other hand, Robin
Wright (Jenny) is raised by Kevin Mangan (Jenny’s father) after the death of her mom when she
is at the age of five. Kevin occasionally assaults Wright sexually which prompts the police to
arrest him and put Wright under the care of Fay Genens (Jenny’s grandmother). The film majorly
focuses on the two main characters revealing the life of being raised by a grandparent in
Wright’s case and in a single parent family in Hank’s case.
Hank’s story is an example of children raised in single parent families. Hank’s mother,
Field, is quite a responsible woman always wanting the best for her child. Hank is born having a
lower IQ level than other children and as a result he is unable to join a normal school like other
children. Sam Anderson is the principal of the school where Field goes to enquire whether her
son, Hank, can be admitted. On testing the IQ level, Anderson advices Field to instead take Hank
to a special school. Field fully believes in her child and instead of heeding to the advice sleeps
with Anderson to secure an admission for Hank. At school and while in the school bus heading
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to school most of the learners call Hank stupid except Wright who falls in love with him. Field
encourages Hank ignore the other students who often abuse him by showing him that someone is
stupid if he does stupid things. Besides, Hank had crooked spine despite having strong legs
forcing him to wear braces to keep the legs upright. The braces made it hard for Hank to walk
and virtually impossible to run. Most local bullies took the disability to physically abuse Hank,
often chasing him with truck bicycles forcing him to run.
On the other hand, Wright is raised by Genens after the arrest of Mangan. Wright’s
mother died when she was five years old leaving her and her sisters and the care of Mangan who
sexually and physically assaults them. Wright and Genens stays in a truck near Hank’s home and
she often sneaks to spend a night at Hanks home. Whenever Wright sneaked to Hank’s room at
night he thought that she was running from Genens fierce dog but later Hank came to learn that
Wright was escaping form the scare of Mangan breaking out of jail or incase get released from
jail come to Genens house and abuse her. Most grandparents, for instance in Wrights case, have
no ability to take good care of the grandchildren and they often leave out to self-guidance. Due to
improper care and guidance from Genens, Wrights turns to be a prostitute often singing in strip
clubs naked. The troubles of growing up with a grandparent also follow Wright is her
relationships as she broke up with any man they dated. Even when Hank reveals to her that she
loves her she does not want to hear anything about being loved. Later, Wright dies of HIV/AIDS.
Children brought up in single parent families and the ones brought up by grandparents are
often discriminated. The world is fast changing and more and more children are being raised in
single parent families and other raised by the grandparents for several reasons. Separation either
from divorce or death is a leading cause of the two types of modern families. Children raised in
single parent family and those ones raised by grandparents tend to be more independent, and
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usually more responsible and mature as a result of entrustment to carry out tasks by their sole
parents and by grandparents. Additionally, the children feel more involved in making family
decisions as the sole parent and the guardian grand parents often discuss with them household
issues. In Hanks case her mother less relied on others to solve her problems and as a result raised
a son who later became a hero in the US. Life is sometimes different to some children raised by
grandparents as the sole caregiver with issues such as financial burdens for meeting medical,
educational, and basic needs cost (Biasutti & Nascimento, 2021). Also, the grandparents may not
be in position to instill high level of discipline and guidance to their grandchildren often resulting
to such children failing in life.
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References
Biasutti, C. M., & Nascimento, C. R. R. (2021). The adoption process in single-parent families. J
Hum Growth Dev, 31(1), 47-57.
Zemeckis, R. (1994). Forrest Gump. The Tisch Company.