Is it worse for a child if the mother is cruel or father?
‘No man is an island’ so goes the famous saying, I decided to borrow the saying and use it for this piece of work because it sufficiently describes the conditions of the main characters in both the two plays. Every person is a social being who needs to be loved, cherished, cared for and appreciated as we shall come to explore in the context of the two scenarios used for this work this was absent. The topic of study seeks to find out, whether cruelty from father or mother which has more impact on the child.
Firstly, we are going to explore the first character in the play ‘Cinderella’ we are introduced to a lady called ‘Marie’, she is an orphan who has lost her mother, she is left with the father who doesn’t seem to care much for her welfare since he has married another lady who has another daughter which the play describes as more beautiful than the first daughter Marie. The latter misses the mothers love so much and is often seen lying on the mother’s grave, she sometimes finds comfort from the nanny who happens to be the only close confidant that she has around (Ariyanto, Sugeng and Eka 76).
Marie involves herself with a lot of domestic chores while her step sister relaxes on the couch or goes out with her mother ridding on the horse driven cart, Marie longs for this experience but her step mother can never allow her the get this experience. Marie looks after the pigs, cleans the sty, cleans the compound, cleans the house, cleans her step mother’s shoes and irons her step sister’s clothes.
Upon invitation by the step sister to the palace, she denies having a sister when questioned. Marie’s father seems a little bit bothered on how the latter is being treated but he is as well overwhelmed by the pressure from the wife and he doesn’t act.
From the story of Marie in the play ‘Cinderella’, Marie is not loved by both the biological father as well as the step mother though there is a lot of evidence that she was loved by the biological mother.
In the second play,’400 blows,’ we are introduced to the main character in the play, a young boy who fights very hard to get recognition from the parents, teachers, fellow colleagues from school. The young boy constantly lies and the reason for his lying is that even when he speaks the truth, nobody believes him. His father has abandoned him and no longer gives him any attention, what worsens the situation is the fact that the mother as well lives her life as though she has never given birth and she has no son.
Jean, the main character, misses going to school because he forgot to complete his assignment due to the pressure he was in when at home. In the event of disagreement between their parents, he is often the reason. At night, he barely sleeps because a fight can arise at any time. At one instant, he cheats that his mother is dead in order to get money from a stranger in the street.
Jean is constantly slapped by the father and well as by the mother who have lost interest in him as well, when he is grown in bid still to seek for recognition he is arrested and locked up in prison (Bohlinger 45).
In conclusion, I would say that the love from both parents matter a lot to the general life of a child, when he is growing up and when they are of age too, though the mothers love is more vital and can save a lot even in the absentia of a father’s love.