Summary:
What causes the downfall of the family in "We Were the Mulvaneys" was the act of rape, causing the Mulvaney family to become distant and silent. If the Mulvaney family had all reacted like Judd, they would have never been separated.
In the novel "We Were the Mulvaneys" by Joyce Carol Oates, the act of rape causes the Mulvaney family to become distant and silent. Since no one wants to talk about the violent event except the youngest son Judd, there were consequences. The consequences of not talking about it are dramatic. The family looses contact with each other, and becomes angry towards each other. However, Judd wants to talk about it, and understand what happened. Since he does want to talk about it, he keeps in contact with every family member, and consequently there is no anger towards him.
After Michael Mulvaney Sr., the father, find outs about the rape, he becomes starts to drink heavily, become silent and angry with his family and consequently he loses all connection to his family. When Michael Sr. found out who did this to his daughter, he broke Zachary Lundt's, the rapist, nose and cracked a couple of his ribs. Since Michael Sr. did that, he realized that he could not charge Zachary with sexual assault, without being charged himself. Michael soon realized that he screwed up, and shouldn't of went after Zachary. After the fight, Michael Sr. stopped coming home for dinner and always went for drives late at night. He started to drink a lot, too much, and kept on getting angrier. His attitude towards work changed too. He started showing up at jobs late and didn't care what his workers were doing. His business started to decrease and slowly he was going bankrupt. He failed to tell his wife Corinne important information, like their money, and how they were slowly losing it, and how he was angry all the time. He also started to avoid looking at his daughter Marianne, the victim, because he said: ."..I'm not strong enough, I'm a coward. How can I live knowing that! God help me, Corinne, I can't bear the sight of the girl any longer" (Oates 185). The next day Marianne is told that she is going to live with Corinne's cousin for a while.
When Marianne first told her mom about the rape, her mom was very supportive and tried to get Marianne to talk about it. Their relationship was good, however it changed over time. She helped Marianne out with everything and told her to keep rested. Corinne tried to talk to Michael Sr. about what happened and what he was thinking, but he insisted that it would be best if Marianne lived somewhere else. After Marianne moved out her mom stopped phoning her. Corinne did not tell Marianne or invite her to Patrick's, the second oldest, graduation. Marianne's grandmother died, and Corinne did not tell her. Marianne found out through her mother's cousin. "The funeral is Thursday at eleven, as I've said. At their church...But your mother doesn't want you to attend, I'm afraid" (324). Even after this, Marianne didn't realize what her mother was doing to her. Whether she knew what her mother was doing to her and didn't say anything or, she knew but just didn't want to believe what she was doing to her.
The reaction of the brothers was a bit different from the reactions of the parents. The oldest son Michael Jr. moved out of the house and into the city. Patrick, the second oldest, stayed quiet until he graduated out of high school. After Michael Jr. moved out he did still work for his father. After some time though, he found out, through his younger brothers, how his parents were treating Marianne. After he found out, he wanted nothing to do with his parents and quit his job working for his father and joined the Marines. He lost all contact with his family, except after many years he got a hold of his father and made arrangements to meet him. Michael Jr. went but ended up leaving in disgust, his father had turned into an angry, pitiful man. "Dad, my God! What's happened to you? (394).
Patrick knew how his parents were treating Marianne, but didn't have enough guts to confront his father. After he graduated he knew he had to express himself. His mom had asked him on the phone about not coming home for Christmas, "Oh Patrick-how can you"", Patrick replied, "Well, Mom-how can you"" (208). His mom asked if he was talking about Marianne and assured him that his father wasn't ready to see her yet. Patrick just responded with, "Good-bye, Mom. And Merry Christmas" (208). He moved away to college, and rarely phoned his parents. He did however, come into contact with Marianne. He become close to Marianne, they always talked on the phone, and had each other over for visits. He told Marianne how their parents were doing and how their dad was heavily drinking. Marianne did not believe, the part that her parents were mistreating her. Patrick tried to convince her, but there was no hope.
Judd's reaction to the event, was different from the rest of the family. He wanted to talk about it, understand what was going on, but his parents wouldn't tell him. Since Judd wanted to talk about the event, he was able to stay in close contact with all his family members. When it first happened, he was too young to know what happened to his sister. But as he grew older, his brother's informed him of what had happened to Marianne. He did not speak out to his parents about the matter, but continuously asked him mom why Marianne was not invited to some events. When he was seventeen, he woke up to a fight that his parents were having, and wandered downstairs to see what was wrong. As usual, his dad was drunk and ended up hitting his mom. Judd rushed in to help his mom, and his father started to yell at him, "Who do you think you are! You punk! You're nothing! You and your brothers! Letting your father down! Insulting your father! Everyone of you-ungrateful bastards!" (376). After that his father punched him and pushed him against the side of the house. The next day, Judd left. Judd did still however keep in contact with his mother, but refused to talk to his father. His mother tried to convince him to come home, but he refused and told her that he would still call and keep in touch, but just wouldn't live with them.
The Mulvaney family, in the end became close again. There was no distance and secrets between them. These events only happened because all the members of the Mulvaney family, except Judd, did not want to talk about the event. Since Judd was more open on the subject, he learned what he needed to, in order to understand what was happening to Marianne and the family. The rest of the Mulvaney family however, did not learn what they needed to, so that they understood, where each person's opinion was coming from. If the Mulvaney family had all reacted like Judd, they would have never been separated.
This is the complete article, containing 1,171 words
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