Did I Miss Something Analysis
Reading Response Essay
Divorce is a common situation in most families today. Almost half of marriages end in divorce by the time a child turns 18. This is a huge change compared to just 20 years ago when couples made a marriage work regardless of what the situation was. In “Did I Miss Something?” author Lowell Putnam explains his view of being “treated as a victim of some social disease.” He tells of living part time with one parent and part time with the other. I am also a child of divorced parents; however I only lived with my mother. I can agree with some points the author made, and some I feel differently. I agree that parents can’t make a marriage work based on a child. That will only result in everyone living miserably, especially the child. The author says that “with love as the driving force in a parent’s mind, he or she will almost invariably make the correct decision.” This is very true. In my case however, I didn’t have that from both parents. I lived with my mother and two older brothers. My parents had separated before I was a year old. My father then moved to Chicago …show more content…
She would only answer that their marriage did not work and that they would never be together again. This always left me feeling sad and lonely. I often put blame on my mother for them not being together. Of course not understanding at that age why they had divorced and why my father was not around. My father seemed to be only concerned with his life and not of my brothers and me. This never really changed. He would make promises that were never fulfilled. It wasn’t until my late teens, after my father had passed away; that I realized my mother was never to blame. My father had basically abandoned my brothers and me, and that was entirely his own choice. I’m not sure if my father knew of the pain he had caused us, and even if he did, he never did much to fix
Divorce is a common situation in most families today. Almost half of marriages end in divorce by the time a child turns 18. This is a huge change compared to just 20 years ago when couples made a marriage work regardless of what the situation was. In “Did I Miss Something?” author Lowell Putnam explains his view of being “treated as a victim of some social disease.” He tells of living part time with one parent and part time with the other. I am also a child of divorced parents; however I only lived with my mother. I can agree with some points the author made, and some I feel differently. I agree that parents can’t make a marriage work based on a child. That will only result in everyone living miserably, especially the child. The author says that “with love as the driving force in a parent’s mind, he or she will almost invariably make the correct decision.” This is very true. In my case however, I didn’t have that from both parents. I lived with my mother and two older brothers. My parents had separated before I was a year old. My father then moved to Chicago …show more content…
She would only answer that their marriage did not work and that they would never be together again. This always left me feeling sad and lonely. I often put blame on my mother for them not being together. Of course not understanding at that age why they had divorced and why my father was not around. My father seemed to be only concerned with his life and not of my brothers and me. This never really changed. He would make promises that were never fulfilled. It wasn’t until my late teens, after my father had passed away; that I realized my mother was never to blame. My father had basically abandoned my brothers and me, and that was entirely his own choice. I’m not sure if my father knew of the pain he had caused us, and even if he did, he never did much to fix