How did the birth of Hannah and Michael's son Yair affect the family?
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When Hannah has Yair in March 1951, the marriage between herself and Michael, starts out better than it started, but as the child grows up it becomes increasingly unemotional and strained. When Hannah first brings the baby home, she is automatically faced with her mother fighting with Aunt Jenia. She immediately is able to see something wonderful in Michael. “Michael stood silent in his gray suit. The baby was asleep in his arms. Michael’s eyes pleaded with the women to take the baby from him. He had the look of a man who is desperately struggling to hold back a sneeze. I smiled at him” (Oz 76). As she is saying this, she realized that her husband, holding their newborn baby shows some type of feeling, by trying not to wake him up. The courtesy he shows in trying to keep the baby sleeping, makes her see that he is good and it makes her delighted to see it.” After the two women left our house I realized that my husband had learned to warm milk in a bottle inside a saucepan of boiling water, to feed his child, and to lift him from time to time to make him burp so that the wind should not be trapped in him” (Oz 77). As she is saying this, she also sees that he has learned a great deal to keep his baby healthy, and she again sees that he is showing some sort of feeling towards the child in trying to care for him. As the baby was growing, Hannah starts to seem angry in her self and her son because she does not seem to have a feeling towards him. “Sometimes, when the baby cried and Michael was out, I would get up barefoot and violently rock the cradle, calling my baby in an ecstasy of pain “Zalman-Yair” or “Yair-Zalman”. As if my son had wronged me. Here it is easy to see that Hannah doesn’t seem to care about her son, only herself, and as he grows, it is seen that her live for him is not as strong as a mother’s love for her son should be. “I beat Yair when he displayed this sullen insolence” (Oz 103). Here, she shows no emotion to beating her son, but mentions that her husband never laid a hand on him. This difference of relationship is the main factor to how their family becomes distant. Michael and his son seem to have a tighter bond, while Hannah, even though she doesn’t have one, doesn’t seem to care, only of her fantasies and desires. Michael says, “I’m nothing special Hannah, but you must ry as hard as you can to love Yair” (Oz 142). Michael is saying this to Hannah as they are talking about their son and he is mentioning all the odd things Yair likes and how one day he will probably be an engineer. In their marriage, even Michael, a very resolute man is able to see the lack of love that Hannah shows for their son, and the birth of their son has made Michael love more, and Hannah love less.
Hannah finds out that she is pregnant early into the marriage and she becomes worried. She had just started studying at the University and she was very interested in her Hebrew literature major. Hannah was excited to learn and become something, just like her husband who was a geology major in graduate school. When the couple found out about their pregnancy, Hannah had to stop her studies, but Michael did not stop. Hannah was very passionate about her studies and when she had to stop, it upset her. When describing her pregnancy, Hannah said, “I stopped attending lectures at the university. I would never study Hebrew literature again… Where this quality of desolation came from, what it consists in, I would never know” (Oz 59). As their son Yair grew up, Hannah’s attitude toward her son was never perfect. Little things would bother her about him and she was never overjoyed with what he was doing like a mother should be. Maybe since she had to give up something she was very passionate about like her studies, she had a little bit of a grudge against the situation. Michael, who continued to work and study hard, became a doctor of geology and he loved to play with his son. Michael wanted to raise him to be polite and not interrupt anyone, and also Michael always wanted to teach him things. One night on the way home from the University, he found a stray cat and brought him home. When he saw Hannah he said, “Where’s Yair’s animal book? Get the book, pleace, Mummy, and let’s show Yair how cats and leopards are cousins” (Oz 108). Due to Michael having a better relationship with Yair than Hannah did, it affected their relationship. Hannah did not understand the bond that the father and son had and even something as small as their stamp collection bothered her. The amount of affection between the two changed when their son Yair was born and even comes down to Michael having to tell Hannah to love Yair more.
2 comments:
When Hannah has Yair in March 1951, the marriage between herself and Michael, starts out better than it started, but as the child grows up it becomes increasingly unemotional and strained. When Hannah first brings the baby home, she is automatically faced with her mother fighting with Aunt Jenia. She immediately is able to see something wonderful in Michael. “Michael stood silent in his gray suit. The baby was asleep in his arms. Michael’s eyes pleaded with the women to take the baby from him. He had the look of a man who is desperately struggling to hold back a sneeze. I smiled at him” (Oz 76).
As she is saying this, she realized that her husband, holding their newborn baby shows some type of feeling, by trying not to wake him up. The courtesy he shows in trying to keep the baby sleeping, makes her see that he is good and it makes her delighted to see it.” After the two women left our house I realized that my husband had learned to warm milk in a bottle inside a saucepan of boiling water, to feed his child, and to lift him from time to time to make him burp so that the wind should not be trapped in him” (Oz 77). As she is saying this, she also sees that he has learned a great deal to keep his baby healthy, and she again sees that he is showing some sort of feeling towards the child in trying to care for him. As the baby was growing, Hannah starts to seem angry in her self and her son because she does not seem to have a feeling towards him. “Sometimes, when the baby cried and Michael was out, I would get up barefoot and violently rock the cradle, calling my baby in an ecstasy of pain “Zalman-Yair” or “Yair-Zalman”. As if my son had wronged me. Here it is easy to see that Hannah doesn’t seem to care about her son, only herself, and as he grows, it is seen that her live for him is not as strong as a mother’s love for her son should be. “I beat Yair when he displayed this sullen insolence” (Oz 103). Here, she shows no emotion to beating her son, but mentions that her husband never laid a hand on him. This difference of relationship is the main factor to how their family becomes distant. Michael and his son seem to have a tighter bond, while Hannah, even though she doesn’t have one, doesn’t seem to care, only of her fantasies and desires. Michael says, “I’m nothing special Hannah, but you must ry as hard as you can to love Yair” (Oz 142). Michael is saying this to Hannah as they are talking about their son and he is mentioning all the odd things Yair likes and how one day he will probably be an engineer. In their marriage, even Michael, a very resolute man is able to see the lack of love that Hannah shows for their son, and the birth of their son has made Michael love more, and Hannah love less.
Hannah finds out that she is pregnant early into the marriage and she becomes worried. She had just started studying at the University and she was very interested in her Hebrew literature major. Hannah was excited to learn and become something, just like her husband who was a geology major in graduate school. When the couple found out about their pregnancy, Hannah had to stop her studies, but Michael did not stop. Hannah was very passionate about her studies and when she had to stop, it upset her. When describing her pregnancy, Hannah said, “I stopped attending lectures at the university. I would never study Hebrew literature again… Where this quality of desolation came from, what it consists in, I would never know” (Oz 59). As their son Yair grew up, Hannah’s attitude toward her son was never perfect. Little things would bother her about him and she was never overjoyed with what he was doing like a mother should be. Maybe since she had to give up something she was very passionate about like her studies, she had a little bit of a grudge against the situation. Michael, who continued to work and study hard, became a doctor of geology and he loved to play with his son. Michael wanted to raise him to be polite and not interrupt anyone, and also Michael always wanted to teach him things. One night on the way home from the University, he found a stray cat and brought him home. When he saw Hannah he said, “Where’s Yair’s animal book? Get the book, pleace, Mummy, and let’s show Yair how cats and leopards are cousins” (Oz 108). Due to Michael having a better relationship with Yair than Hannah did, it affected their relationship. Hannah did not understand the bond that the father and son had and even something as small as their stamp collection bothered her. The amount of affection between the two changed when their son Yair was born and even comes down to Michael having to tell Hannah to love Yair more.
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