When we look at this family portrait the first thing that comes to mind is naturally something along the lines of, "oh my goodness, how can someone possibly have such a big family?" In this picture, there are twenty-five kids, five wives, and one husband. Regardless of your views on Polygamy, as a viewer, you can not help but think, "what does each member think of this situation?" Obviously for the kids it is something normal to them because it is what they are use to, and all they know. Think about how it feels to have one sibling who shares the same mom and dad as you, and another who shares the same dad, but has a different mom, and you are just as close to both; to you they are both equally your siblings. Think how it may feel to be a child in this family and to have three ladies living in the house who are not your mother, but may be your brother's mother, what is your relationship with them like? On the other hand what about a mother who's child is not hers, but lives in her house amongst her children who the child calls their brothers and sisters? What is her relationship with them like? And finally, the father, how does he feel about having all these children who are his by blood, having different mothers?
A lot of this is hard for us to wrap our heads around, and there are so many questions we can ask about these types of situations. It is not something that is very common for people in the Unites States, so for us, it is considered to be something that is weird, radical, and out of place. Although, people who take part in the practice of polygamy may look at us and think the same thing; "how can a man only love one woman? How can the woman take care of her children all by herself without the help of any other women? Societal norms differ depending on where you live, your surroundings, how you were brought up, etc. I thought this picture was interesting, and it caught my attention right away because earlier today I was looking at a family picture that my family and I had taken on the beach over the summer. Viewing my family portrait I thought about how much fun we had that day, and how hectic my house is with only four people. As soon as I saw this family portrait of thirty-one people my first reaction was to sympathize with them because of how hectic and chaotic their household must be. All families are different, and this picture was a perfect visual example of something that is socially unacceptable to us, but completely normal and correct to others.
This is so hard to wrap my brain around, knowing there are 3 other women who are married to my father would be very strange. I don't necessarily agree with polygamy but I respect people who do practice it. I wonder how the wives really feel knowing they don't have their husband all to themselves.
ReplyDelete#3 I have only ever thought of how to wives would feel, knowing their husband was married to a number of other women. Thinking about the way the children must think having several siblings only partly related to them must be hard. Our way of life is so "normal" to us just because it is something we've always lived with. Although I do not believe in polygamy, I think it is a very interesting topic and I have a lot of respect for the women who do practice it.
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