When mom and dad went to war the only prisoners they took were the children
Interpretation
This quote highlights how familial conflict can affect children deeply, illustrating their vulnerability in such situations.
Pat Conroy's quote emphasizes the devastating impact of parental conflicts, especially during times of war, on children's emotional and psychological well-being. It suggests that while parents may engage in battles, the true victims are often their offspring, who bear the emotional burdens and suffer the consequences of their parents' choices and struggles.
In practice
Using this quote in a speech about the impact of war on families.
It enclosed us in its laceries as we watched the moon spill across the Atlantic like wine from an overturned glass. With the light all around us, we felt secret in that moon-infused water like pearls forming in the soft tissues of oysters.
A recipe is a story that ends with a good meal.
Every woman I had ever met who walked through the world appraised and classified by an extraordinary physicality had also received the keys to an unbearable solitude. It was the coefficient of their beauty, the price they had to pay.
Teach them the quiet words of kindness, to live beyond themselves. Urge them toward excellence, drive them toward gentleness, pull them deep into yourself, pull them upward toward manhood, but softly like an angel arranging clouds. Let your spirit move through them softly.
I loved my parents... but that can never change the fact that my father's violence ruined my childhood.
The most powerful words in English are 'Tell me a story,' words that are intimately related to the complexity of history, the origins of language, the continuity of the species, the taproot of our humanity, our singularity, and art itself.
I have cared for loved ones nearly all my life, so when I look in the mirror, I see a caregiver looking back at me. It began when I was 12 years old and my father became ill. Taking care of him took a toll on our entire family, my mother most of all.
I was, in reality, bred by my parents as my father's concubine... What we take for granted as the stability of family life may well depend on the sexual slavery of our children. What's more, this is a cynical arrangement our institutions have colluded to conceal.
Having my son has changed so much of what I dream about. It used to be about business, business, what's the next deal? What's the next movie? Now it's about him.
Our children are extensions of ourselves in ways our parents are not, nor our brothers and sisters, nor our spouses.
I want to give a child a life who wouldn't be given a life. I want a child that nobody else wants.
It is the logic of consumerism that undermines the values of loyalty and permanence and promotes a different set of values that is destructive of family life.
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