Comparison of Rosa Lee and Suzanne Somers, Essay Example

Introduction

Somers reveals the dark underpinning of her dark career as an adult child of an alcoholic, in the movie, keeping secrets (Graham 45). She shows us the gradual disintegration of her family due to keeping the guilty secret of the father’s affliction and her alcoholic siblings. From this movie comes out the painful honest account of her life in an alcoholic family (Graham 49).On the other hand Rosa Lee’s story is one that would anger and disturb some readers. It’s one encompassed by an intergeneration of under-class poverty, crime and drug use in one family, as Graham (78) found out.

Poverty, Drug Use and Addiction

Somer’s childhood was spent in San Francisco (Graham 80). Her mother was a churchgoer, but this did not stop their father from making the life in the family harrowing through his rampages and alcoholism madness. To make matters worse her siblings also got into drugs until one of them, then another joined Alcoholics Anonymous. Rose Lee’s story by Leon Dash is a difficult one. An honest single black mother struggles through life with children who stealing had become part of their life. At an early teen-age, they were already on drugs and would therefore, would steal nearly anything from anyone to get money to buy drugs (Graham 83).

Their way of life spreads to a son of Rose’s daughters, who begin drug use at an early age. They severally got themselves trapped in patterns of repeated crime behavior and violence most of which was just in their neighborhood. Rosa Lee ends up in losses, paying heavy tolls severally for her children release from prison. Somers and Rosa lives have vivid poverty, adolescent childbearing, and neglect and drug abuse. In both, the responsibility of a father is not seen. In fact, in Rosa Lee’s story, the father is not mentioned at all, the family is of single parenthood.

Their Inspiration

According to Graham (101), although Somer’s movies reflects a painful life, a bitter one, of struggling to keep a secret, what she shares about her family’s ultimate triumph over the disease is inspiring and the bold step she takes in revealing such a delicate issue to the public, exhibits a lot of courage. She gives an amazing insight into a healing process of a relation to an individual with alcoholism. Rose Lee’s story goes a long way in showing anyone can overcome whatever tremendous odd. Weather one is an expert of urban poverty like the case of Rosa’s children and grandchild, with the right altitude one can overcome these societal barriers and lead a decent life.

Works Cited

Graham, D. Ultimate Triumph over Poverty, alcoholism and Drug Use, rev. ed. London: University of North Carolina Press, 2003, pp. 45-101