We all have our own meaning of the word family. In fact, the definition of family can be defined as “a group consisting of parents and children living together in a household”. If you were to sit down and think about the words that symbolize family, the list would go on and on. Some words include love, support, compassion, wisdom, and even safety. Would you ever consider putting words that aren't so happy? Sarah Dessen once said, “Family is not something that is meant to be static or fixed. People get married, they divorce. They are born, they die. It’s constantly evolving, transforming into something else. What if evolution turned the good side of the family toward darkness? John Cheever's The Reunion and Philip Larkin's This Be the Verse both describe an event or piece of advice that causes the word family to be on the dark side. Each literary work uses its language to tell why the word dysfunctional describes their family symbolism. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay. Since both literary works have the same symbolism, each piece has differences that make each piece its own work. The Reunion by John Cheever is a short story about a son who reunites with his father. The son's feelings for the father change from the beginning to the end of the story. Cheever uses a lot of detail in his sentences to make the images stand out so that the reader can imagine being in the narrator's place. The narrator is Charlie who recalls the meeting with his father. Charlie announces that he hasn't seen his father in three years since his mother divorced him. Once he saw his father, he was excited. “He was a tall, handsome man, and I was terribly happy to see him again” (Cheever 254). The setting takes place in Grand Central Station, New York, in the 1960s. The plot of the story is that Charlie and his father spend the little time they have together going from restaurant to restaurant and Charlie notices that his father is a drunk. Everywhere they went, the father shouted and was rude. “You do not desire our patronage. Is that it? Well, to hell with you. Vada all hell, let's go Charlie” (Chever256). Charlie looked up to his father and now he doesn't. The narrator's tone is regret/sadness. The last line of the poem ends with "I went down the stairs and got on my train, and that was the last time I saw my father." This tells us that the narrator regrets seeing his father again because he didn't like the way his father acted. Dysfunctional describes the relationship because if a person were to reunite with someone they haven't seen in a while, you would think they were on their best behavior. Also, the father chooses alcohol over time with his son. The theme of this short story is that we cannot choose our family. This story tells us that we can't stop family and that we can simply learn to live with it or walk away. Mitch Albom once said, “All parents hurt their children. There's nothing we can do about it. Youth, like immaculate glass, absorbs the imprints of those who handle it. Some parents smudge, others break down, a few completely break childhood into small, jagged, irreparable pieces. This Be the Verse by Philip Larkin is a poem composed of three stanzas with alternating rhymes. The poem has a tone of aggression/disappointment towards the parents. He advises us not to have children, because if we do, they will be wasted. According to Alison Macbezn, "...it is a poem that refers to a fundamental truth that many recognize but have not..”