Breaking Unproductive Parental Cycles

"Was it terrible she didn't feel it was so wrong?" 

 A critical moment of introspection for Margie, a character in Eleanor Brown's Light of Paris, this quote illustrates a common paradigm experienced by not only the main character Madeleine but all people. As much as fight to keep our true desires at bay, ultimately, they overcome all societal expectations that we do our best to abide by. Brown's insert of Margie's story while Madeleine faces a crucial situation in which her husband proposes they get divorced signifies how Madeleine's need to please her mother is generational. From her grandmother who stays trapped in her mother's routine expectations to Madeleine who stays trapped in the idea of a perfect marriage, Brown foreshadows the growth of Madeleine in this quote - relishing the idea of a life where could paint freely and not have to maintain the shallow life of her husband and his wealthy image. Particularly standing out to me for its subtlety to the struggle the main character is currently facing, this quote depicts a critical aspect of human nature being that people will give in to their desires as Margie and Madeleine is foreshadowed to. 

Furthermore, this quote has extensive implications for any reader, especially myself, reading myself to become an adult. As adolescents go through school, we start wanting to feel validated by our friends and not just our parents. As a result, we come into many disagreements with parents and often spend time making uncomfortable decisions as Margie did, where we are only left to our independent faculties to make life decisions. We look forward to these situations as we don’t have to deal with our parents’ expectations, yet we are far more affected by them than we think. Often times, we pass down the parenting techniques we received to our children, despite some of them being unproductive. Ultimately, every child will be left to their own faculties at some point to make their decision, and like Margie and potentially Madeleine, they will have to make a decision that may not agree with their parents. However, they walk out with a greater understanding of the world and a more balanced perspective. Madeleine is hopefully on her way to finding what she truly wants, unlike her grandmother who experimented yet mostly retained her mother’s quests. Between the fictional and real world, it is crucial that inefficient parental tactics such as those that hold people back from their true desires, which they will inevitably indulge in, and parents must understand that they must let their children live a little so children can live their most fulfilling lives.