Part one of term paper
Dysfunctional family relationships form the basis of many Canadian short stories. Often, tragedy is the end result of severe family breakdown. In other cases, personality defects are directly traceable to poor family dynamics. In the stories “Hurt”, “Fall of a City”, and “The Sound of Hollyhocks” there were very profound fa ...

Part two of term paper
... on.” (pg. 195) In a family situation a young child such as Stevie should not have the responsibility of taking care of his parent. Moreover, even when Stevie’s father was sober, Stevie could do whatever he liked without consequence. Skip described such a freedom when he said that “Stevie went to school when he wanted to go...” (pg. 193) This lack of rules or an authority figure demonstrates the dysfunctionality of this family. Also, Stevie’s father was a violent alcoholic. Sk ...