A_Visit_to_Grandmother

In the short story A Visit to Grandmother, William Melvin Kelley writes about a man who brings his son to his mother's house for an unexected visit in an attempt to resolve his childhood traumas. Despite those conflicts, the main character, Charles, progresses as a human being due to his leaving home. One example of conflict that Charles faced as a child is his older brother, GL, getting all the love and attention from his mother. We see this when he grimaces when hugging his mother and when he doesn't talk or laugh during dinner. Through his actions as an adult, one can infer that Charles needed to finally let everything out and cry. An additional conflict that Charles experiences is that no one cried or tried to stop him from leaving at such a young age. Although he suffered from these conflicts, Charles develops into an amiable man and a successful doctor. His son, Chig, describes him as someone who is caring and warm. Even though it is not directly stated in the story, one can infer that as a result from his experiences, Charles became very educated and raised his son in a better way than his mother. One childhood conflict Charles endured as a child was his envy toward his old brother, GL, for getting all of the attention and being treated nicer by his mom. He explains this by saying, "You'd do things with him, like ride in that buggy, but if iwanted you to do something with me, you were always too busy." (pg 251) His mother never showed him any love or attention and Charles was jealous. He was five years younger and didn't recieve anything nice from his mother. Because of this Charles left home and nearly hated his mother for what she did. Chig explains that, "Something new and almost ugly had come into his eyes: fear, uncertainty, sadness, and perhaps even hatred." (pg 243) Charles was afraid to see his brother being loved by his mom again. He was also sad because he hadn't been home in so long that maybe deep down he missed being there. And hatred toward his mother for not caring for him the way she should have. Another one of Charles' childhood conflicts is that no one cried when he left home. They didn't seem like they cared and they didn't try to stop him. He says, "I cried when i left here. Nobody loved me, Mama. I cried all the way up to Knoxville." (pg 251) Because of this Charles hasn't cried ever since. But going back into the home that he feared the most triggered his tears once again. Charles didn't want to accept the fact that she had ten children and out of all of them GL needed the most and Charles the least. The mother tries to tell him that, "You was smarter. You was more growed up than GLwhen you was five and he was ten, and i tried to show you that by letting you do what you wanted to do." (pg 251) But no matter how many times Mama apologized, Charles would never accept it. Although Charles had to deal with a rough childhood with no love or attention, he left and became very successful and didn't let it affect the way he raised his son. One of his experiences as a child was that his older brother recieved more love and was treated nicer by Mama. Which led to jealousy and anger. Another conlfict is the fact that no one cried, or cared at all when he left. Charles was hurting inside and his mother didn't even try to stop him. What seemed to be a friendly visit to see your family, turned to be a visit of tears and apologies. The worst part is that everyone seemed to live a fine life without Charles and no one even noticed that a little five year old was in pain because his mother wouldn't even show him the least bit of affection.