Family

Family is an important theme in the novel “This One Summer” by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki. Family involves mutual love, compassion, loyalty towards, and emotional, spiritual, and physical support of individuals who may or may not be blood-related, but who still behave in the fashion of the traditional family unit. In the novel, family proves to have fewer redeeming moments than it has positive influence on Rose’s life.

Rose’s family visits Awago Beach every year. These yearly summer visits are in keeping with the positive nature of family, as Rose and her parents get out of the city every summer for a couple of weeks. It is something that they do together – but the past year has been difficult. Rose knows her parents have been straining against one another, with her mother’s coldness being the source of friction between them. Indeed, Rose...