How children from a divorced family are effected Essay

How children from a divorced family are effected - Essay Example The specific dialogues are taken from the hit sitcom show two and a half men declared as the biggest comedy hit of the last decade by The New York Times. The sitcom is based on the life of Harper brothers; Charlie and Alan Harper and Alan’s son Jake, who is referred to as a half man in the title of the sitcom. After the divorce Alan and Jake move to Charlie’s place forming unique relationships amongst themselves with changing circumstances and behaviors exhibited by these three characters. Alan is a dim wit and weak personality with childhood issues of his own, lives with his brother but has no say in the household matters. He has a tendency to be obnoxious, exhibits vindictive behavior towards her mother and sees his alcoholic sex addicted brother as an inspiration. Jake is a lethargic child with low self esteem and no real ambitions, after his parent’s divorce he spends time with his mother and father but is more influenced by his father and uncle. He has low i ntelligence and no concern for personal hygiene but is aware of the norms prevalent in the house; norms set by Charlie. Charlie Harper is an alcoholic and sex addict on a self destructive pattern, a confident and self righteous person but in a wrong way. He has no respect for the opposite sex and has no desire for a real relationship. In the episode ‘The big pink things with coconut’, Jake is stretched away from his grandmother by Alan as he does not want her to damage the self esteem of Jake something she did to her own children, Alan and Charlie. This shows that the Harper brothers have childhood issues of their own and treat their own mother poorly. In the same episode ‘The big pink things with coconut’, Charlie curses her mother for faking illness and wishes her to die, an extremely disturbing behavior from a son and represents a total breakdown in the relationship. The personality of Charlie Harper is a significant influence on Jake and Alan, who has n o respect for the opposite sex, no concern for his health or the affects he is having on the child due to his abysmal behavior. Jake’s lazy attitude and direction less life is due to his unsuccessful father who married and divorced two women. Using the scenarios in the sitcom the essay investigates and defines the affects single parenting has no children and how they view different relationships. Working Thesis: The sitcom is packed with instances where the child exhibits an unusual behavior towards life, relationships and marriage. Being influenced by the nature and attitudes of accompanying elders the child has a lackluster personality with no goals in life, no respect towards elders and no real want for a healthy relationship. During the past two decades the American family system has experienced significant change from the ideal of nuclear family, the common families seen in America today are single parent families. These single parent families due to one reason or the ot her are headed by either mother or the father and in some cases by grandparents (Coontz). There are many elements that result in to single parenting but dissolution of marriage or divorce is the most common and leaves many psychological effects on the growing child. The life of a single parent and accompanying child can be difficult, besides the obvious economic hardships there are many emotional effects resulting in depression and behavioral instability. According to Stephaine Coontz (1992), children undergoing a parental divorce try to cope up with the mental stress by finding refuge