In the modern society, there is often a lack of communication between parents and their children. One can simply open the daily newspaper to find teenagers committing suicide or various crimes due to stress derived from family issues. These incidents reveal the importance of parents" communication with their children. Love for their children is within every parent, which is frequently revealed through the concern they show. David Adams Richards illustrates this matter regarding family relationships in his novel, Nights Below Station Street. The family lives of the characters from Nights Below Station Street and Joy Luck Club demonstrate that children's behavior is directly affected by the misunderstanding of their parents" love for them.
To begin with, the novel shows that children are always their parents" primary concern. Adele's father, Joe, loves her dearly even though she is not her daughter by blood. Joe suffers from chronic back pain, and he feels that drinking alcohol is the most effective means to relieve the pain. However, he decides to quit because he does not want his drinking problem to cause any harm to and embarrassment for his daughter. He constantly reminds himself, "I can't drink [ ] The pain might go back for a bit and it might not - but even if it does- I"ll still be back drinking, and it would make everything worse than before" (173). Joe loves Adele more than anyone else. He tries to provide her with the best life possible, just that some obstacle always prevents him from doing so. For example, "Joe had always tried to get Adele the best present he could, and yet never seemed to have the money to do it"(13). Similar to Joe, Byron's mother, Myhrra, tries to be the best mother she can be. Myhrra worries for his son so much that she spoils him.
She would make milk shakes for him in the morning, and fudge to take to school. She would send away for books on tropical fish.
