Hold Tight And Babylon Revisited: An Analysis

The relationship between family members can vary from extremely close to almost as if they don't know each other. Different events can cause strain on these relationships, making them stronger or tearing them apart. In this essay, I will be discussing the attempted changes in family dynamics in “Hold Tight” and “Babylon Revisited”.
In “Hold Tight” the family has to deal with the Mothers impending death from cancer. The Della, the daughter is acting out because of it, having been in two car accidents that year, and smoking marijuana (Bloom, 652). While they are surviving as a whole, they are only living a fraction of the life that they had been living. The mother used to paint, even attempting to Teach Della how to paint, but as cancer took her strength away she
Wales is attempting to regain custody of his daughter from his sister-in-law, Marion, who does not trust him with his daughter Honoria. While Wales' relationship with Marion was rocky from then the time that he had married Helen, but to make it worse Marion blames Wales for Helen's death. (Fitzgerald, 369). The relationship between Marion and Wales is tense, with the central argument being around Honoria's guardianship. Marion is afraid that Wales will go back to his old habits, the habits that she feels lead to the death of Helen, and will cause something similar to happen to Honoria. Wales, on the other hand, is afraid of losing his chance to know his daughter, or that Marion will train Honoria to hate him as well. However, at least when he took her out, Honoria doesn't hate him, rather is concerned that he will cause himself to be initially ruined again (Fitzgerald, 367). However, Honoria wants to live with him or at least claims them to Wales' face. (Fitzgerald, 368). Despite having host Helen, their relationship is fine, especially for having been essentially estranged due to Marion's Wishes. However, their happiness is not to