This essay will discuss and examine three phases in the lives of the two siblings, Michal and Marek. It will compare these areas and analyse using different theories relating to them. Beginning with their infancy, with particular emphasis on developmental stages, it will then move on to consider the middle adulthood stage. The last of the stages to be looked at will be older age and how factors through their lifespan have affected their path. It will also look at possible connections between events in all three stages.
To conclude there will be a summary with the conclusions drawn from this analysis.
The siblings had very different start to their lives; Michal’s early infancy was unfortunately overshadowed by Marek even before his arrival. The difficulties experienced by his mother during her pregnancy and well after Marek’s arrival, would have affected his bonding with his mother. The intermittent separation during those early stages is well documented as been detrimental to psychological development. One theorist who had a particular interest in early attachment was John Bowlby. Bee, H. Boyd, D. (2004 p.259) conveys that “Like Freud, he assumed that the root of human personality lies in the earliest childhood relationships. Significant failure or trauma in those relationships will permanently shape the child’s development”. Michal would not have been able to understand his mother and father’s disappearance or the reasons for them ‘leaving him’ as he would probably have thought. The secure attachment (Ainsworth) process would have been interrupted and Michal safe base taken from him. Suddenly, for eight weeks the caregiver or his surroundings was no longer familiar to him, seeing his father at weekends and only for two hours would compound his confusion. The situation could have been easier on Michal if there had been any extended family available or the family had been surrounded by their community members who would have been