You Can Always Count On Your Parents

Something I realized is that you can always count on your parents.  It doesn't matter how hard life gets or how awkward. Whenever you need someone to lean on, they're there. Ali makes that very clear in the ending of her novel.  Her last words were, "he was there to catch me wen I leapt. (232)" Thats exactly how I feel about my dad.  That's what got me thinking about children's relationships with their parents.  It doesn't matter what negative things happen. At the end of the day your parents are still your family.

As mentioned in my previous blogs, Ali as a very complicated life.  Many things happen that no one can even try to comprehend.  Her dad dies, she finds out all of his secrets, realizes she is more like him then she could have ever imagined, etc. It must have not been easy, but she learned to deal with it and move on.  However, in the beginning she does share her frustration with her dad, but in the end she expresses her appreciation and understandment.  This graphic novel made me think of a mexican comedy, Nosotros Los Nobles.

The movie is about a rich family. A man owns a very successful company and has tree kids, two sons and a daughter.  Unfortunately, his wife died while his children were very young.  This caused the father to give them whatever they wanted.  That made them turn into spoiled brats who knew nothing about the meaning of life.  So, to get teach them a lesson, he forms a scandal and tells his children that the government is after them.  They are forced to move into their grandparent's old repulsive home and are told that they need to find a job.  In the end, the children find out about their father's lie and decide that they want nothing to do with him.  The three children move into their grandfather's home, fix it, continue working, and end up becoming successful (obviously not like their father).  However, in the end he shows up for his son's birthday and apologizes.  The children realize he only had their best interests at heart and welcome him back with open arms.

Although the plot is very different from the graphic novel, it has the same conclusion. Ali ended up realizing that her dad really wasn't a bad guy.  He just had many mistakes and didn't realize how much he was hurting his kids.  In the last pages, Ali explains that she still loves her father and that he cared about her very much.  Yes, he made many mistakes, but he was still there for her.  The same goes for German Noble (the father).  He messed up by working too hard, almost like Ali's father, but he never stopped caring about them.

The lesson taught by the graphic novel and movie is to never give up on family.  They really do care about you, especially your parents.  They makes mistakes just like we do.  They are not perfect.  We just have to be patient and realize that they have our best interests at heart.  They love us and would practically do anything to make us happy, even when that doesn't seem to be the case.  They will always be there to catch us when we leap.