The Severe Consequences

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                                                     Eve Wu

                                                     Block A

                                                           Apr 30, 2004

The Severe Consequences

        “Let’s get divorced/separated!” is a phrase that is uttered repeatedly in many different languages and dialects around the world. This simple and short phrase is often seen as the key to rescue the couple from a doomed marriage. Sadly, more often than not, the couple involved in either a separation or a divorce don’t always realize just how sever the consequences of getting out of a doomed marriage really are. In “Queen for a Day” by Russell Banks, the Painter family is a prime example of the consequences of separations and divorce, and just how much damage it can be done to a family. Regardless of their ages, Earl, George, and Louise are all influenced by the separation in one way or another. As a result of these separations and divorces, families are always separated, siblings are sometimes divided up between parents, children are separated from one of their parents and those involved are generally very unhappy. Thankfully, in the Painter family’s case, even though the children are separated from their father, they are spared from experiencing the pain of being separated from their siblings. Perhaps for a brief second or two, Adele Painter is glad to be out of her bad marriage and relish in the end of all the quarrelling and fighting, but once she starts to take care of her three kids by herself, with no support from her husband, she beings to realize how harsh the consequences of separations and divorces are. In essence, both divorces and separations have profound affects on those involved and are two extremely terrible ordeals for any family to go through.

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        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 ...

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