Character Analysis: On Golden Pond

Taylor Spencer
“On Golden Pond”
Prof. Cheryl Thayer
November 26, 2010

An old couple Ethel and Norman Thayer goes to a home on Golden Pond every summer. They will be celebrating Norman's eightieth birthday, and he makes frequent jokes about his own mortality but Ethel is not amused. Norman is also having bouts of memory loss, a reality he struggles to accept. While they are at the Golden Pond, their daughter Chelsea writes them a letter, telling them she is coming to visit for Norman’s birthday. Ethel is excited about Chelsea coming but Norman never seems real excited about anything. You can tell they don’t having the regular father daughter relationship. Chelsea also states how she is bringing her fiancé Bill with her, who’s a dentist
When Chelsea returns, Chelsea is married and her stepson has the relationship with her father that she always wanted. Marriage is a union of two people that unites partners sexually, socially, and economically, that is relatively consistent over time, and that accords each member certain agreed-upon rights (Schwartz, & Scott, 2010 p.2). The type of marriage that Ethel and Norman have is a monogamous marriage. Norman and Ethel are still completely in love after almost fifty years. You can tell they have had their difficulties, but their marriage has been strong enough to survive their problems. Norman and Ethel are two very different people, where she is energetic, he is still and where she wants everyone to be happy, he is more concerned about his own happiness. I believe it is because of their differences that they have a strong marriage. They counterbalance each other and create stability. Once you been with someone so long you learn them better and know they intentions are good. The family relationship doesn’t seem very strong like
Formal; Grandparents follow what they see as a prescribed role for grandparents, fun seeker; grandparents-grandchild interaction is characterized by informality and playfulness, distant figure; Interaction is limited to holidays and special occasions, surrogate parents; grandparents assume caretaking responsibilities for grandchild and reservoir of family wisdom; grandparents are the dispensers of special skills or resources (p.413) I believed that the Thayer’s used two styles of grand parenting, which were fun seeker and distant figure. The reason I chose those two styles because Norman and Ethel were playful with Billy. They allowed him to curse and joke around with them. My grandparents would never allow me to curse at them at such a young age without any punishment. I said they were distant figure because they’re only going to see Billy on special occasions and holidays because they live in two different states. It’s hard to be a surrogate parent when you don’t see your grandchild very often. Billy never looked at them as grandparents but had a good time with them on his visit. Norman and Ethel never punished him I believe that’s why Chelsea was so jealous because Norman treated her different as a child than he treated