Influence From Family

The meaning of “Influence From Family” is the power way family members affect the development, behavior, and well-being. The three stories “The Pigman and Me”, “TA NA E KA”, and “The Goodness of Matt Kaizer” all show how families influence one another in meaningful ways. The Pigman and Me, written by Paul Zindel talks about Paul getting in a fight with John, because of an accident when Paul hit John. After school Nono Frankie teaches him how to fight in their backyard, because he notices how scared he is. At the end though after school when Paul is fighting John, his sister came and threw him fifteen feet away. The story TA NA E KA written by Mary Whitebird, talks about Mary’s family tradition of surviving five days in the wilderness. When they come of age the young kids must do a tradition to survive in the wild alone, and get their own food and shelter. Mary cheats the tradition by getting money, and eats at a restaurant for the five days. She stays at the restaurant and gets flowers for the tables. When the five days are over, her cousin is skinny while she is fat, her grandpa sees her, and she confesses the truth to her grandpa. In The Goodness of Matt Kaizer written by Avi talks about Matt a mischievous boy and how he changed from bad to good. Matt was a bad kid opposite of his father, a priest. Matt always took dares, and he was dared to go to a dying man’s house, and was told by the man he was an angel. His dad dared him to go again, because the family wants him to go, and after he goes he changes and gets nicer every time he goes. Soon after the man is immaculately healed Matt becomes sad of how many bad things he had heard from the man. 

Family brings us together from kind hearted gifts of joy and happiness. When we bring our family members joy and happiness we are bringing them up, and encouraging them to do stuff. In the story “The Goodness of Matt Kaizer” Matt and his dad are a family, Matt is given joy and happiness by his dad, because his dad still believed that Matt can still turn good like him. In the story “TA NA E KA” Mary’s  mom and dad encourage her to do the tradition. Her grandpa also encourages her to do it, and teaches her and her cousin on what they would be tested on. In “The Pigman and Me” Nono Frankie sees the reaction on Paul’s face and asks him what is wrong, and when Paul tells him Nono Frankie teaches him Sicilian fighting. Also his sister came up and protected him, showing how much she cared for him. Whenever we are kind hearted in our family, it encourages our own family members to do more stuff, like when we are at a game and your family member is playing, you should cheer them on and bring up their spirit. Family is a great way to show our caring and kindness. 

Family members can bring potential and positive behavior towards each other. When we talk to one another we bring the potential of positive behavior toward our family. In the story “The Pigman and Me” Nonno Frankie helps Paul learn fighting and to bring up his own courage, showing how he brings positive behavior towards him and cares for him and shows that Paul can easily beat him. In the story “TA NA E KA” Mary sees that her grandpa is trying to teach her things she might need to know, and her parents encourage her throughout the way. In “The Goodness of Matt Kaizer” Matt’s mom shows that when she goes to sick people’s place she always would bring flowers, that is what Matt does. When we bring positive energy toward our family members it makes us happy, and joyful. Also whenever we may be down or sad they may make us happy about something by making a joke. Families can help bring positive attitudes to help us cheer up, or when we just want to have fun. 

As a family we all have some different way to communicate with each other, either if it is a handshake or a secret code. When we have different ways to communicate with a sibling we make it a secret with every other sibling. In “The Pigman and Me” Nonno Frankie had already sensed the tense in Paul, so he asks what is wrong, because Nonno Frankie and Paul have known each other for a long time. In “TA NA E KA”Mary’s grandfather already notices how big she is compared to her cousin and so he sensed that something was wrong. “The Goodness of Matt Kaizer” his dad dared him to do something and since Matt never backed down from a dare he did it. When we are family we know many things that people may not know about you and your siblings. Families have many different ways to communicate with each other and interact with each other, just like these three stories show.

The three stories “The Pigman and Me”, “TA NA E KA”, and “The Goodness of Matt Kaizer” all show the influence of family. When we are caring and sharing with each other in our family we bring joy, like in “The Goodness of Matt Kaizer” Matt is given chances by his dad to be kind, and finally he brings joy to his dad. Family can bring positive Behavior with many different types of parts in “TA NA E KA” Mary's parents help encourage her to do it, even though she thought it was too hard she still did it. Families communicate in many different ways, from handshakes to making their own language, like in “The Pigman and Me” Nonno Frankie notices Paul and his tenseness so he asks what is wrong and he teaches him how to fight. These three amazing stories help show how family influences are great.