Most people have an idea of what a family is “supposed” to look like. When people think of a family, they picture smiling faces, gathered around a dinner table, sharing laughs, memories, and a meal. However, family relationships are often more complex than that, in both good and bad ways. In Teju Cole’s Open City, Julius experiences difficulty finding his role within his family. Circumstances arise that make every bond within a family intricately unique. Although people have an expectation of what a family bond is “supposed” to be, there is no such thing as a “normal” family, as various elements prevent any two family relationships from being the same.
An assumption that many have about family bonds is that each member has a specific identity …show more content…
Julius is raised to hate his grandmother. His mother spreads negative thoughts about her and they are separated from her. However, Julius recalls his grandmother’s visit when he was eleven as a pleasant one. Teju Cole writes, “the picture my mother had painted of her as a difficult and small-minded person was inaccurate; it was a picture that had nothing to do with my oma, and everything to do with my mother’s resentment of her,” (34). He sees past his mother’s resentment of his grandmother and enjoys the time they spent together. Yet their time together consists of long periods of silence. Upon his parents return, Julius could not put into words why he enjoyed the experience so much because, after all, it was silent. Julius’ relationship with his grandmother is one that is considered “normal,” but Julius still appreciates the connection that they share. Their bond is entirely unique and shows that there is no such thing as a family bond that is “typical.”
Belinda Luscombe’s article There Is No Longer Any Such Thing as a Typical Family strives to figure out what the standard family looks like today. Simply put, there is no “typical” structure of a family. In the 1960s, about two-thirds of families were headed by married parents. Recently, that number has fell to forty-five percent and the diversity of family structures is extremely scattered. There are families that are raised by single mothers, single fathers, grandparents, or neither grandparents nor