Some people may think that the people who are actually affected by divorces and separations are the parents and that the children are merely like bystanders at a car crash that are only affected somewhat, if at all, as a result of each divorce and separation. On the contrary, the children involved in each divorce and separation are impacted to the same, if not greater, extent. In the Painter family, when Nelson Painter informs his three children about him leaving and going “upstate” back up to Holderness where he has got “an apartment” and where he has “been all along”, George, his second son, is so affected by this announcement that he starts “running pell-mell, as if falling, down the darkened stairs” to go to “a hiding place” where he would “stop, sit and bawl” about his dad leaving him (pg 21, 22). Earl, Nelson’s oldest son, also wants to do the same, because he is “too scared, too confused and too angry” about this whole business. However, instead of running away and bawling, he puts on a brave face and wishes that “everyone can be more happy now” (pg 22). Even the youngest child, Louise, who is “barely six years old” is affected and she says that “she’ll miss her daddy” (pg 21). However, since Nelson has “worked away from home” for most her life, she “seems to be quickly forgetting about him” (pg 21, 22). George however, stays mad at his father and keeps his anger “deep inside himself” and says “nothing about it all” (pg 22, 23). All in all, it is quite obvious that the three Painter children, age ranging from six to twelve, are all affected deeply in some way by their parent’s separation, some more than others.
In addition to affecting the children profoundly, divorce and separations can also make one mature beyond one’s age and forces one to bear more responsibilities. This occurs in the Painter family when Nelson Painter leaves the three children and their mother. After his father’s departure, Earl Painter realizes that he needs to “concentrate on survival, survival for them all”, which he now understands it “to be his personal responsibility” (pg 23). He now bears the heavy burden of having the family survive through this separation because his mom seems “utterly incapable of guaranteeing it and his brother and sister, of course, were still practically babies” (pg 23). Earl also realizes that he is “the man of the house now”, and somehow by saying that he is the man of the house over and over again like a prayer, it makes his “terror ease back away from his face” and makes the burden seems easier to bear (pg 23). When his mom “lost her job” and “starts crying” along with “Louise and George”, Earl takes charge and “commands her” not to cry and tell him about what happened (pg 30). He is so mature after going through his parents’ separation and his mom loosing her job that he acts like a grown up and reassures his mom that “things will work out” (pg 38). After his mom lost her job, Earl “quits the hockey team” so he can “take an extra paper route in the afternoon” because his mom’s job is minimum wage and “can’t pay for their bills” (pg 38). Earl is not the only one in the family who has become more responsible after the separation. George also becomes responsible and “comes home after school and takes care of Louise” so Earl can “go through delivering papers and can come home and make supper for them” (pg 38). All in all, it is extremely obvious that extreme situations such as one’s parents separation can often make one mature quickly and forces one to bear more responsibilities.
The children are not the only ones that suffer in a separation or divorce. Even though getting a divorce or separation is suppose to make the parents happy and joyful, which they are for a short while, the delight would soon turns into regret once they realize how much work it is to take care of children on their own. Unfortunately, Adele is just discovering exactly how hard it is to take care of three kids on her own. Before their separation, her husband Nelson sometimes sends her money, and along with her job “as assistant bookkeeper down at Belvedere’s Tannery downtown” she can take care of the family all right. However, ever since their separation, Nelson “refuses to send her any child support money”, and with her small salary, she can “barely pay for her rent and food costs” and so it’s virtually impossible to pay for a lawyer to “take the father to court” (pg 26). Her daughter “Louise needs glasses”, but she doesn’t have the money to “pay for them” (pg 26). If Adele Painter thinks she can rely on her “two sisters and brother”, she is very wrong (pg 26). Since the whole family is Catholic, they “don’t believe in divorce, and think that she should not have let her husband leave her” (pg 27). The task of taking care of her children on her own is so difficult that “she cries a lot at night” and because her family would not help her “she feels abandoned in this time of her greatest need” (pg 27). However, despite all the difficulties of being a single mom, she tries to remain “cheerful and loving” for the sake of her children (pg 27).
All in all, it is immensely obvious that divorces and separations are two extremely horrible ordeals which affects all those involved, no matter how young or old, very profoundly. The results of separations and divorce are extremely apparent in the case of the Painter family. The children, regardless of their ages, have all been affected in their unique ways. Both Earl and George are forced to become more mature than their age and bear more responsibility than ever before in hopes of allowing the family to “survive” through the separation (pg 23). Lastly, the mom is forced to take care of her three children and herself with no outside support from her “two sisters and her brother” nor from her husband Nelson (pg 27). It is extremely apparent that before one gets separated or divorced, one needs to think about the consequences very thoroughly. One also needs to think about whether or not getting separated or divorced would be better for the family or worse as a whole.