Analysis: The Freak Show Attractions

The Freak Show Attractions You can pick your friends but you can’t pick your family. We are born into families and to some degree, these people shape our personalities and views of the world. Do traditional families offer a better sense of self or worth? Do non- traditional families harbor immoral values that shape our outcome? Society has always based its value system on the traditional family. The 1950’s embodied this perception of the traditional family: two parents and a boy and a girl. Dad worked and Mom stayed home to raise the kids. This was the poster child for the traditional family with traditional values. The year is 2015. 1950 is long gone and the traditional family has been replaced with single family homes, gay parents, adopted …show more content…
Many adult children leave their families and settle elsewhere other than their childhood bedroom or parent’s basement, but for some adults living with at home with their parents is their reality. Carol Morello, a Washington Post writer, investigated the reasons behind adults still rooming with their parents. She found that approximately 18 percent of the population that are adults still live at home (Morello). That may be surprising to some, but the truth is that the economy has been rough and expenses have been increasing. Tasha Hart, a woman who is 36 and still lives at home says, “My parents have been pillars to lean on as I’ve deal with health and finance issues” (Hart qtd. in Morello). These issues, such as health and finance have been detrimental to several adults, which cause them to stay nested in their parents house until they get back on their feet. Why are these people shunned by society for still living at home? First, many believe the order of life goes, you’re born, raised by a mom and dad, leave to go to college, get a career and start a family. Due to changes in our society life doesn’t follow this established pattern. Adult children find that they are now a target for unacceptable social norms. Hart also comments that when she told her friends that she decided to move back in with her parents that they “…looked at me like I was from a different …show more content…
As stated earlier, same-sex marriage couples are shunned by many communities, including schools. Schools are the home base for bullying because students are forced to interact with one another and naturally people will automatically stereotype by first impressions or looks. For example, if you happen to see a student wearing glasses, high waters and with a boxed lunch what would go through your mind? Many people automatically label that kid as a nerd or a geek and that student would most likely get picked on until he or she changed how they appeared to others or acted. This conformity of what society has portrayed to be cool has set up kids who like anime and calculus to be automatic targets by the rest of the school. Carrie Goldman defends this by her article, Why Telling Bullying Victims to “just Fight Back’ Doesn’t Work, by stating that, “Communities demand relative conformity, it is what makes them communal. Nonconformity, therefore, naturally results in exclusion.” She goes on by saying that if parents want to protect their children from being bullied, then they need to find a community who accepts them (Goldman). However, many families can not just move to another community if their child is being bullied for several reasons, one being unable to afford the financial burden of moving. These children who do not alter their personality and style are outcasted by their peers. Due