Loss of a Family Member, and Its Effects on the Family Essay

Kenji Miyazawa once said, â€Å"we must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey†. This quote applies to loss in the fact that when we face a loss we must continue our lives and use the loss to make us stronger. The loss of a family member is always hard to deal with and it affects everyone differently. Some people are open about their feelings and others bottle them up. The loss of a family member does not always refer to a death, but can also refer to an emotional or physical distance put between two people. In â€Å"The Shawl† by Louise Erdrich, there is an example of a physical loss and its effects on the family, while in â€Å"Bone Black† by Bell Hooks the loss shown is of the emotional kind. It is interesting to view these stories side by†¦show more content†¦When the father realizes that what the boy saw was not spirits but actual wolves he runs back into the woods to try to kill the wolves. When the father found the wolves tracks, he foll owed them until â€Å"he could see where the pack, desperate, had tried to slash the tendons of the horses legs†(Erdrich 382). The father saw what was left of the daughters shawl and it became apparent to him that she was sacrificed from the wagon to save the rest of the group. The father doesnt tell his son the truth of what happened in those woods until the father is on his death-bed many years later. When the boy finally knew the truth, â€Å"he knew that this broken place inside him would not be mended, except by some terrible means† (Erdrich 382). The story fast forwards and the boy is now married with three children. Until his wife died, â€Å"the only time [he] touched the â€Å"ishkode waaboo† was on an occasional weekend†(Erdrich 383). According to his son, when his wife died the father started â€Å"the heavy sort of drinking, the continuous drinking, where we were left alone in the house for days† (Erdrich 383). The father was most like ly using alcohol to mend the pain he felt from the loss of his sister and then, the loss of his wife. According to a study done by the Cambridge Psychological Medicine Journal, â€Å"childhood parental loss (or the familial discord that precedes or follows it) is probably a direct and significant environmental risk factor for theShow MoreRelatedThe Negative Effects Of Serial Killers1369 Words   |  6 Pagesmass murder (serial killers), but these murders also affect the lives of many other people and their families. There are no positive effects when this happens, there are only negative effects on every person involved. The cause always starts with the serial killer, the victim never causes it. There are multiple effects on the serial killer, victim, the victim’s family, and the community (Violent Loss). 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