The Burden of Secrets

I finished my novel for the nine weeks project and one of the main themes was the burden of secrets. The main character keeps a secret from his family which ruins his marriage and prevents any type of father son bond between him and his son. This made me think about the problems so many families face today. From addictions to abuse to cheating and lying, there are many difficulties that famillies go through. Are these problems the result of one person keeping a secret from their loved ones? There was a quote in the novel that really stood out to me: "David started talking again…how he had woken up every morning of his life for eighteen years thinking maybe today, maybe this was the day he would put things right…The secret had worked its way through their marriage, an insidious vine, twisting; she drank too much and then she began to have affairs…he’d tried not to notice, to forgive her, for he knew that in some real sense the fault was his"(274).

Difficult Decisions

In the book I'm reading for the outside novel, a woman gives birth to twins, one healthy and one with down syndrome. The father (also the doctor) decides to send the baby girl with down syndrome away and tell his wife that the baby died during birth. This eventually leads to a ruined marriage and a torn family. As I was reading this, it made me think if I was in that situation what I would do. This book takes place in the 60s when kids with down syndrome were looked upon as burdens with no hope and life was just too hard for them. I think, regardless of that, I would never be able to choose one kid over the other or pretend they were dead knowing full well that they were not. So I would say it wasn't a difficult decision at all. Sometimes there will be challenges and you and your family have to overcome them as you get to them. Trying to find an easy way out will not work, because I personally don't think there are any easy roads. Thats what life is, taking what life gives you and doing your best in any and every situation.