Why do we hear so much about family these days? Perhaps it is because relationships between family members are assumed to be the prototype for all other social relations. In the novels, The Commitments, The Snapper and The Van, Roddy Doyle shows his support of the family as an institution. Each character demonstrates strength and direction within the family unit. However, when the stability of the family is threatened, each character breaks down along with the family itself.
When we think of family life we associate happiness, a life of sharing memories and developing unbreakable friendships. It is easy to create a family that is make believe, we just tend to leave the ugly side of the relationship out. It may be true that there is a family that lives like the 'Cleavers' in our society today, but speaking realistically every family will breakdown eventually. In an interview about his novels the author said, 'I didn't set out to capture the good in every family, or bad for that matter, I just wanted to show a typical Irish family.'1 Doyle's writing is real--he deals with issues that might not hit home with every reader however, they are events that confront many people every day. …
