The story of Being with Henry and Leaving Home

The story of Being with Henry and Leaving Home epitomizes strong sensation towards family relationships. Both stories embark a certain pressure in the family which reveals the character’s attitude. Scrutinizing and comparing the two stories based on the aspect of dialogue, it is imperative to take into consideration the decisive aspects of dialogue which Ellinor, Linda enumerate as “creating a fuller picture of reality, employing deeper levels of listening and reflection, and creates a culture of cooperation and shared leadership which moves groups from dependency, competition and exclusion”.

Parallel to this, aspects of diction as it transcends in the stories of Being with Henry and Leaving Home should also be given emphasis. In lieu of which “the art of delivering the word as it clearly understood to its fullest complexity, the choice of word and style, and the literary diction which reveals how a passage establishes tone and characterization” is essential in comparing the diction of these two stories.

Dialogue as it create full picture of reality was illustrated in Martha Brooks’ Being with Henry, the presence of a family in Laker and his mom’s relationship was a good evidence. Taking good care of his unmarried single mother hand in hand with having a brutal step-father is such a reality for Laker. There is no way for him to bear the fruits of being a son, all he needs to do is accept the fact that he has to be strong for his mom and work hard to stay in the relationship regardless of those barriers.

On the other hand, David French’s Leaving Home typify a family relationship wherein attitude of the members are clashing with each other – like that of Ben’s relationship with their father and conflict with Billy’s relationship with his girlfriend on how will they be able to compromise with their relationship. Dialogue as it employs deeper levels of listening and reflection is the second aspect which should be highlighted in both stories.

A good point to hoist was the circumstance as Laker’s mom rarely plays the role of being a mother to him and when Laker had a physical fight with his step-father which forces him to leave his home since her mother didn’t stand for him. At this point, he listens to what his heart is saying and set aside the conscientiousness of being a son. Conversely, in Leaving Home, the relationship of Billy and Kathy has come to a reflection that they are just holding on with their relationship because of the thinking that Kathy is pregnant, but at the moment that Kathy had a miscarriage, they both come to a second thought of being together.

Dialogue as it creates a culture of cooperation and shared leadership which moves groups from dependency was the third aspect to consider under the discussion of dialogue. As Laker in Being with Henry leaves her mother and stand up for himself, he finds Henry with whom he can turn to and at the same time contribute also to the feeling of loneliness that Henry is feeling at that moment.

Equally, Ben in the story of Leaving Home decided to be with his brother Billy and sister-in-law to be away with their parents as Jacob and Ben has a long standing enmity rooted in their fundamental differences and he can no longer stand the feeling of living with his father. French, David support this response thru this, “Jacob is incensed and a heated argument between father and son resulting in Ben being thrown out of the house”.

On another note, as we grasp the aspects of diction and adopt in both stories, certainly, Brooks’ Being with Henry portrays the feeling of a wholehearted son; you can feel the sentiment as Laker endures the pain of leaving his mother, and this is also exemplify the tone and characterization of the story. On the other hand, French’s Leaving Home connotes intense emotion as it presents a commotion in the family as they have different perspectives, and as you go through the story you’d be really aware of the situation since the chose of words and style is very appropriate.

Practically, the process of releasing and providing relief from the pressures of both families in the stories promotes strong emotions which really captivate its readers. Indeed, the representation of dialogue and diction was presented in French’s and Brooks’ story. The way the story elaborates a certain feeling proves what really a dialogue and diction is all about, thus both are essential on having a comprehensible work.