Just what kind of mother is Beatrice? - Gamma Rays post #5
This is the 5th, and final homework blog posting of Gamma Rays... Have you completed them all to earn full credit?
Now that we've gotten to see Mrs. Beatrice Hunsdorfer in the play, how would you categorize her as a mother? Go back and re-read the article on dysfunctional families that we studied in an earlier post. Using information from the article, decide what type of parent category Beatrice fits into. In what way will her parenting style affect her children, either now or in the future? Explain your reasoning by pointing to specific examples from the play.
27 comments:
In my opinion, Beatrice is a combination of an alcoholic and an abusive parent. Alcoholics have different expectations depending on the day; rules change, promises are broken, and fits of anger mark their behavior. Abusive parents verbally or physically attack their children, often for unwarranted reasons. In the play, Beatrice is often seen drinking, and is quite drunk at one point. She tells Tillie that she will go to her science fair, but never shows (breaking promises.) She yells at Ruth for dressing odd, but will give cigarettes to her (strict to indifferent.) As an abusive parent, Beatrice is often sarcastic and resorts to yelling many times during the play. Though she may not be as physical as some abusive parents, she does occasionally push the children. Beatrice’s verbal abuse will cause the most damage to the girls; children of alcoholics learn to make their own way, but nothing is more demeaning than having a parent tell you that you are worthless. The words of their mother will continue to echo in the back of their minds much into their adult lives, maybe even preventing them from functioning as normal people.
i would catigorize beatrice as a horible drunk mother an alchohalic who is never good or decent as a mother unless she is sober.
I think Beatrice could be categorized as a controlling parent because the website says controlling parents fail to allow their children to assume responsibilities appropriate for their age and Beatrice doesn't let Tillie go to school. Beatrice makes her stay home and do chores, such as clean up after Peter and take care of Nanny. She doesn't allow Tillie to make a decision about school because if she had a decision she would go to school because she likes it, especially science. She enjoys going to school unlike her mother. I think Beatrice is controlling because she doesn't want Tillie to enjoy school if she didn't. She also doesn't allow Ruth to go to Tillie's science fair because she wants to go and there will be no one to take care of Nanny.
Jordan
period 6
I think that Beatrice is both an alcoholic and an abusive parent. The reason why i say that she is an alcohlic parents is becasue Promises are broken or ignored, expectations depending on the day, and rules change. She is an abusive parent because they are found to attack their chidren verbal or physical abuse. Thoughout the play you see Beatrice acting like she cares about her kids,but doesnt really and just acts about it. You also see how she how she always puts down her kids mostly Tillie when it comes to their school work just becvasue she didnt have such a good school life. A awy that you can see her being a alcihilic parent is that she tells Tillie that she cna't go to school one day but can the next. Also she said that she would go to the science fair, but then she didn't becasue people were making fun of her. Beatrice is always drinking in the play adn one time she was even drunk. I think that no matter hwta happens to the kids the voice of their mother putting them down.
said annemarie period 4
In my opinion, Beatrice is a combination of a deficient parent, controlling parent, an alcoholic, and an abusive parent. Beatrice lived a troubled life which led to her being an inadequate mother. She would put her wants and dreams before her children. For example, when Tillie wanted to go to school, Beatrice wouldn't let her because she needed help around the house. That also can relate to Beatrice being a controlling parent since she would control her children's lives Tillie wasn't allowed to go to school and would make up reasons as to why. If she protested, she'd remind them of all she has done for them and make her kids feel guilty.
Beatrice is not only a controlling and deficient parent but an alcoholic and abusive parent. Beatrice would act in a chaotic and unpredictable mood each day, just like an alcoholic parent. She would change rules each day and when things didn't go her way, she would drink. Just like in the end of the story, Beatrice is upset that she is a failure so she drinks herself into a stupor. While she is drunk-and sober-Beatrice inflicts mental and physiical harm on her children. While drunk, she insults her children and makes them feel worthless. And even when she is sober, Beatrice brings down her childrens self esteem and doesn't care if it is hurting them. And at one point, she even pushes Ruth. When Ruth said she was going to the science fair, whether she liked it or not, Beatrice shoved her hard and went, "What did you just say?" Also, at the end of act I, Beatrice insults Tillie and calls her ugly, causing more pain to an already upset Tillie.
All in all, Beatrice is an unfit, stable, ruthless mother.
Jenna G, Period 6
You could describe Beatrice as an alchoholic and abusive parent. Throughout most of the book she is always drinking. Because of this, she often makes promises to either herself or her daughters but doesn't follow through on them, like the time she said when she would go to the science fair later but never showed up, or when she wanted to start the teahouse she always wanted to have, but that will probably never happen anyway. She is also abusive because she's always trying to criticize her daughters into thinking they're nothing, like her. Just because her life didn't turn out the way she wanted, Beatrice tries to vent her frustrations and anger out on them to make herself feel better. She hates to see her daughters do better in life and in school than she did, and she just lashes out at them, ignorant to the fact that she is causing them more pain than she thinks. Peter per.4
In my opinion Beatrice is an alcoholic and abusive parent. She doesn't follow through on what she says to her daughters. For example when she said she was going to go to the science fair and never showed up. Shee doesn't support her daughter's, and she always puts them down by saying they'll never be anything like her, just because she doesn't want them to succeed more in life than she did. The family is disfunctional all because of Beatrice just because she's pretty much jealous of her daughters. She's affraid that they will do good in life and embarass her, so she does anything to make them feel bad and take all her anger out on them.
kendall
period 6
In my opinion I think that Beatrice is an abusive parent. Although she may not physically hurt her children the things that she says to them are disintegrating and make her children have a low self esteem. Just because Beatrice didn’t follow through on her dreams in high school she doesn’t want her children to. Another thing that you could categorize Beatrice as would be an alcoholic parent. Through out the play she is drinking and this causes her to make promises to her kids that she can’t keep. An example would be when she told Tille that she would be at her science fair and she didn’t show up; she sent Ruth instead. This is a dysfunctional family because of Beatrice she is putting her daughters down because of what happened to her in high school. She can’t control her anger so she lashes out at her children to make herself feel better. I think that her killing the rabbit could be symbolizing for her trying to clean up her act and brighten up her future a little bit.
I think Beatrice is a combination of controlling, alcoholic, and abusive. Beatrice is controlling because she made decisions for Tillie even though she was perfectly capable of making them herself. Beatrice decided that Tillie couldn’t go to school even though she wanted to go. Beatrice is also an alcoholic parent because the way she is going to act each day is different and chaotic. She would change things when they didn’t go the way she wanted, like her job. She didn’t like it anymore so she decided she was going to turn her whole house into a teashop. She also drinks a lot and makes things worse when she does. She is also an abusive parent, verbally and physically. She is often putting down her children and blaming them for her not being a famous dancer. At the end of the play, she even shoved Ruth because Ruth said something that offended her.
Megan period 6
Beatrice is a controlling parent and an abusive parent. She could also be potentially an alcoholic parent. I believe she is very much a controlling parent because we see through out basically the whole book her controlling, demanding attitude when she talks to anyone, especially her kids. Tillie and Ruth are basically powerless to Beatrice. When Beatrice decides she wants to kill the rabbit even though her kids really like it, that’s showing that she is in control of every situation. She is an abusive parent verbally to her daughters, and always believes she knows what’s best even if she’s wrong. Beatrice constantly criticizes people and it all is because she was hurt so long ago in high school. In one scene Beatrice starts drinking make herself feel better, that could also show that she is an alcoholic parent. Alcoholic parents are “chaotic and unpredictable.” Beatrice might not be simply just one of these categories she could be a combination of all of these categories. I think the author was trying to portray in general the idea of a dysfunctional family.
Beatrice is a controlling parent. She doesn’t allow her children to take on many personal responsibilities and she is always demanding of them. In the future Ruth may have trouble making decisions independent from her mother because she was more dependent of Beatrice and had a better connection with her. Tillie on the other hand is very independent from her mother and they have a weak connection, so she will be able to handle her own responsibilities. In the present Beatrice may make her children feel resentful, inadequate, and powerless. She may make them feel inadequate because she is always talking about how much their schooling is unimportant for them because they will never use it. She also makes them feel inadequate because she takes important achievements of theirs and makes them seem like mistakes like when Tillie won the fair and Beatrice get mad. Beatrice makes the girls feel powerless because she’s always telling them what to do and she gets mad when they do things that she didn’t tell them to like when Tillie used candles for an experiment and Beatrice just got angry after because she wanted them.
Beatrice is an alcoholic and verbally abusive toward Ruth and Tillie. There are a few signs that Beatrice shows in the story are that the rules are almost always change by her, and she breaks promises and does a lot of talk and no action. For example when she wants to make the house into a store she never really does anything to do to the house to open it into a store. Then she also has dreams about her childhood and her father died when she was young so maybe she never had any support as a child and that is why she is like this at the age she is now because she does not know what to do with herself and her kids. She also is verbally abusive toward both Ruth and Tillie and even other people when she is on the phone with them and this really brings Tillie’s and even Ruth’s confidence down and it shows because she is quiet and does not really boast about there self’s.
Andrew Per. 4
I think that Beatrice would be classified as an alcoholic and an abusive parent. She is an alcoholic because, obviously, she drinks all the time. This causes stress and conflicts between family members. I can also tell this because she makes promises that she can't keep and she makes rules that are just stupid and unnecessary. She is an abusive parent because she uses nasty words and comments to put down her children. She is constantly yelling at Tillie for doing her science project, which is very unfair. It seems like she likes Ruth more than she likes Tillie until the end of the play because that is the only time when she yells at Ruth. Also, I would consider murder as abuse and she killed the bunny.
Colleen per 4
Beatrice has many attributes that make her an unfit parent. She could be described as a controlling parent over Tillie. Controlling parents don't allow their children to act their age and worry about things that kids should be concerned with. Controlling parents also make all of their child's decisions and don't give them any independence. Beatrice put responsibilities on Tillie that were not appropriate for her to be worried with. Beatrice was an inadequate parent as well as controlling. Beatrice controlled Tillie's actions and made decisions for her. Beatrice did not allow Tillie to go to school which is what a kid her age should be doing.
Beatrice's parenting strategies caused her daughters to suffer. Tillie has trouble growing up and maturing due to the way Beatrice treated her. Children feeling powerless and not being able to have independence are results from a controlling parent. That is what happened to Tillie because of the way she was brought up by Beatrice.
Maria Period 6
In my opinion, Beatrice is deficient, alcoholic and abusive parent. Beatrice has mental illness and she contributes to parental inadequacy. In this type of families, children tend to take adult responsibilities, which is very clear that Tillie is the responsible one. She is concerned about her sister Ruth, when she has the attack. She wants to call the doctor rather than mourning for the rabbit and getting hurt by her sister's situation. She is more logical. However, Beatrice would rather save the money to open a restaurant. Tillie's childhood is robbed by the lack of Beatrice's parental skills. There is continuous verbal abuse on the family. Beatrice is always shouting and screaming, never in a good mood. She criticizes Tillie's behavior and Ruth's clothing. Due to the lack of her concern for her daughter, even Ruth calls her name she used to be called on her school. The children are always to be on "discipline" intended to "help" them. Beatrice does not realize how important the school and education is to her daughter. Most parents would do anything to have their children fond of school and education. There is not much alcoholism on most part of the book. In the end, though, Beatrice starts drinking and goes out of her mind. She does whatever she feels like doing. She even killed the rabbit out of anger. There is lack of trust between the family members. Emotional expression is merely shown. When Tillie gets to the finals, Beatrice was least interested. Even when she won, she didn't show any concern. Beatrice was chaotic and unpredictable.
beatrice is an alcoholic abusive and defiecent parent. whaen she gets drunk she is very uncontrolable and chaotic parent. also when she gets drunk she is a very abusive parent not physical abuse, she is a very verybal abusive parent. beatrice drinks when things are getting to hard or when she upset. she expects her children to be adults, there for she is basicaly robbing them of their childhood. she also killed the rabbit to get back at the daughters because the daughter ruth called her a loon, and she knew that that would hurt them but she didnt care. tillie kind of forgives the mother for killing the rabbit.
kyle naimo per 6
i would agree with the anyonomous that went after lvanacore an i would say beatrice is a controlling parent and also a drunk one who cant allow herself mentaly to let her kids grow up there is only one child beatrice will not let grow up on her own like tillie. tillie will not be able to have a job that she wants to hwve insted she will work with her mother in their shop but she will be able to go to school as it would seem.
I would have to say that Beatrice is an alcoholic and abusive parent. She constantly verbally insults her children, and treats them like they are worthless and mean nothing to her. She is really a terrible mother. She either makes fun of her children in jokes, or just straightforward insults them. Also, Beatrice never keeps her promises (like when she didn't go to the science fair), and any kind of emotional expression is shot down harshly by her. Imagine what this must be doing to Tillie and Ruth. In the future, they will be unable to express themselves emotionally, and they will be filled with so much anger and frustration. They will remember their childhood as nothing but horror and sadness, and will lose all respect for Beatrice, their own mother. I really don't think that Beatrice is hurting them on purpose with her words, she is just doing it reflexively because that is what her childhood was like. However, that is no excuse. She should know when she is hurting her own children.
I think that Beatrice is an abusive and alcoholic parent. She is constantly drinking and smoking cigarettes, and she yells at her kids all of the time. Tillie and Ruth may have a mistrust of others, difficulty with emotional expression, or a difficulty with relationships into their adulthood because of their mother. I think that Beatrice uses verbal abuse. She yells at Tillie for her marigolds and other silly things like that. Tillie and Ruth will be overwhelmed with anger and emotional problems when they are older. I believe Beatrice is this way because of what her childhood was like. She was picked on in school and called "Betty the Loon." She also gave up on her childhood dreams and never fulfilled them. This bitterness and sadness from her childhood is taken out on her children.
Lindsay, Per. 4
Beatrice is an abusive parent. She is constantly telling Ruth and Tillie what was wrong with them and shouting. She also killed the rabbit out of spite towards Ruth. Beatrice is unhappy and angry most of the time either towards Ruth and Tillie or Nanny and herself. She directs her anger towards her children and everyone else around her.
Josh period 4
I believe that Beatrice is an abusive parent. She is an abusive parent because she frequently belittles Tillie and Ruth and has no regard as to how they feel. It's almost as if she is a train hurtling toward them while they are tied to the tracks. It's obvious that Beatrice's constant criticism stems from her dashed dreams but that is still no reason for her to dash their dreams as well. Beatrice is also an alcoholic parent because she is frequently doing something addictive and escapist. For example, in the last few pages of the book we see Beatrice at the top of the stairs, drunk and with Ruth's dead rabbit in her hands. She knows that Ruth has problems with death yet she still kills the rabbit and most likely opening a whole new bag of problems for her and didn't even care.
Dominic D Per-4
Beatrice is a controlling and abusive parent. Beatrice is very controlling over Tillie, she doesn't even let her go to school all the time. Beatrice is always verbally abusing her daughter all throughout the story especially to Ruth. If Beatrice is unhappy then she does what ever she can to make everyone around her unhappy too. Like when she kills the her daughter rabbit because she is so angry and drunk. I think that Beatrice's bad parenting style will affect her daughters all throughout their lives because they will miss out on a lot of their childhood and when they grow older they will probably have no idea how to face the real world.
I think that Beatrice is a bad mother. she has a bad attitude and is a bum and can rub of on her kids for the future. In my opion beatrice is an alcoholic abusive parent. She has this jealuosy for tillie and it eats her inside. She hates seeing her kids succeed in life because she didnt. For example because ofher bad past with the school she says she going to see Tillie in the science fair and she never shows up and instead of going she decides to drink. I think that Beatrice is a horrible that can lead her kids to the same kind of situation of its not stopped.
I think that Beatrice is a bad mother. she has a bad attitude and is a bum and can rub of on her kids for the future. In my opion beatrice is an alcoholic abusive parent. She has this jealuosy for tillie and it eats her inside. She hates seeing her kids succeed in life because she didnt. For example because ofher bad past with the school she says she going to see Tillie in the science fair and she never shows up and instead of going she decides to drink. I think that Beatrice is a horrible that can lead her kids to the same kind of situation of its not stopped.
Pat period 6
I would say that Beatrice is an abusive alcoholic parent. She shows many traits of an alcoholic by her lack of commitment to her children's lives, her angry and destructive personality, her constantly changing behaivor, and most of all, her selfishness. Beatrice is constantly putting down her children with telling them how they look rediculous with what their wearing, yet she encourages them to smoke cigarettes, which in the end is showing that her behaivor is ok. She is a single mom so she is the only influence on her children in the house. Beatrice is too wrapped up in her own issues to stop and think how her behaivor is affecting her children. Abusive parents permanently damage their children whether they realize it or not. Beatrice doesn't think about anyone but herself, and how miserable she is. Her parenting skills need alot of work, she is far from perfect.
^ Theresa p4
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