We all have our own meaning of the word family. In fact, the definition of family can be defined as "a group made up of parents and children living together in a family unit". If you were to sit down and think of words that symbolize family, the list goes on and on. Some words include love, support, compassion, wisdom and even safety. Would you ever consider using words that aren't so positive? Sarah Dessen once said, “Family is not something that should be static or fixed. People get married, they get divorced. They are born, they die. It is constantly evolving, transforming into something else.” What if evolution turns the bright side of the family dark? The Reunion by John Cheever and This Be the Verse by Philip Larkin both describe an event or piece of advice that puts the word family on the dark side. Each piece of literature uses its own language to tell why the word dysfunctional describes the symbolism of family. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay With both pieces of literature having the same symbolism, each piece has its own differences that make each piece its own work. The Reunion by John Cheever is a short story about a son who meets his father again. The son's feelings for his father change from the beginning to the end of the story. Cheever uses a lot of detail in his sentences to bring out images so the reader can imagine being in the narrator's shoes. The narrator is Charlie who remembers meeting his father. Charlie announces that he hasn't seen his father in three years since his mother divorced him. Once he saw his father he was excited. “He was a large, good-looking man, and I was terribly happy to see him again” (Cheever 254). The setting is set in New York's Grand Central Station in the 1960s. The plot of the story is that Charlie and his father spend the short time they have together going from restaurant to restaurant and Charlie notices that his father is a drunk. Everywhere they went, their father shouted and acted rudely. «You do not desire our patronage. Is that all? Well, to hell with you. Go to hell, come on Charlie” (Chever256). Charlie looked up to his father and doesn't anymore. The narrator's tone is one of regret/pain. The last line of the poem ends with “I went down the stairs and got on the train, and that was the last time I saw my father. This tells us that the narrator regrets meeting his father again because he didn't like how his father acted. Dysfunctional relationship describes the relationship because if a person were to reunite with someone they hadn't seen in a while, you would think they were on their best behavior. Furthermore, the father chooses alcohol in time with his son. The theme of this story is that we cannot choose our family. This story tells us that family behavior cannot be helped to the point that we can simply learn to live with it or walk away. Mitch Albom once said, “All parents harm their children. It can't be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the fingerprints of those who manage it. Some parents mess up, some parents break down, some completely shatter childhood into little jagged, irreparable pieces. This Be the Verse by Philip Larkin is a poem with three stanzas that have an alternating rhyme scheme. The poem has a tone of aggression/disappointment towards parents. He is advising us not to have kids because if we did they would be messed up. According to Alison Macbezn, "...it is a poem that refers to a fundamental truth that many recognize but do not..”