Modern literature shows the destructive nature of family life. Compare the ways that family is presented in the two texts.

In the naturalistic family drama “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” by Tennessee Williams, the role of women within the family and the ways in which characters react to them displays destructive aspects of family life, highlighting societal disparities between men and women to be inherent to the nature of family life. In the coming of age novel, “The Help”, by Kathryn Stockett, the destructive nature of family life is also presented through the physical rather than emotional disparity between men and women, as conveyed by the character of Minny and the abusive relationship she has with her husband Leroy; and yet such power struggle is widely reflective of the societal power struggle between the black community and the white community. Death plays an important role in portraying how destructive family life can become following its aftermath, as portrayed through Brick’s alcoholism following Skipper’s death and “the bitter seed” that grows inside Aibileen following the death of her son Treelore. Whereas, family, in Tennessee’s play is strictly confined to the Pollitt family, in “The Help” family resonates with ideas of community and belonging to a particular group, yet both writers demonstrate the complexities that arise from family life and the way in which these can be destructive and detrimental for the characters who are part of it.