Introduction
American families go through a lot of challenges. It takes a lot of hard work and perseverance for a couple to keep the family together. Married people have to get used to and appreciate the differences and flaws of their partners. Marriages go through ups and downs, and only the strong hearted can stay with their partners till old age. Besides accommodating adverse characteristics of their partners, having children together and raising them proves to be a tiresome task. Unruly and stubborn nature of children often drives their parents crazy. In some instances, couples may differ on the best way to administer punishment to children thereby creating tension in the family. Donald Antrim's Black Mountain, 1977 and Edward Albee’s The Sandbox illustrate emotional, psychological, and intellectual challenges married couples go through and yet continue to live together with their partners.
Emotional Message
Albee illustrates the emptiness of contemporary family through the characters of Mommy and Daddy. Mommy and Daddy show no feelings of love while interacting with Granny – 86 year old woman. Mommy has domineering and cruel towards her mother (Granny) who raised her single-handedly after being widowed at 30. Mommy lacks emotional attachment and decides to put Granny in a sandbox and wishes her to die (Kaibr, Kadhim & Guo , 2018). Mommy argues that the death of Granny would help remove some stress from her life. Daddy has no say in whatever Mommy has decided and agreed with what her wife desires. Mommy shuts up Daddy whenever he tries to inquire about Granny's condition. In BlackMountain, Antrim’s grandfather had no say on his wife’s actions. Grandmother was aggressive and emotionless towards her daughter just like Mommy was Cruel towards Granny. Grandmother mishandled her daughter at an early age and advocated for unnecessary surgeries against her only child (Antrim, 2014) . Grandfather was meek, alcoholic and cowed by his wife and never interceded when his wife mishandled his only daughter. However, Grandfather is a little bit different from Daddy as emotional guilt consumes him for not helping his daughter. Grandfather forges a relationship with his daughter's son while showering him with love. The loving grandfather gives to his grandson helps him heal is guilty conscience of not showing his only daughter some love. On the other hand, Daddy is never guilty for trying to kill Granny.
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Psychological Message
There is a similarity between the psychological messages presented by the two literary works. It is disturbing how the society has lost its values. Children are turning against their parents are turning against their children. There is no respect in contemporary families. Women have become aggressive, cruel and disrespectful towards their husbands (Kaibr, Kadhim, & Guo, 2018) . In The Sandbox, Mommy is plotting to kill her mother (Granny) while in the Black mountain grandmother subjects her only daughter to grievous body injury. It is heartening to see Granny attempting to talk to Daddy and Mommy who fail to understand her. Daddy and Mommy are determined to see Granny Dead and fake sadness and mourning when Granny decided to play dead. However, in the BlackMountain goes through a psychological change and begin to show caring tendencies toward his daughter. Grandfather supports his daughter and continuously asked his grandson questions about her mother and whether she is alright (Antrim, 2014) .
Intellectual Message
The intellectual message between the two literary works is different. In the BlackMountain, grandfather teaches his grandson the value of a job well done. Grandfather understood the concept of “honest labor” and had tremendous patience while performing any job (Antrim, 2014) . Grandfather teaches his grandson about the beauty of labor which remains hidden at the end of a job and only can see and understand its beauty. The intellectual message in The Sandbox is that nobody should be forced to die. Mommy’s attempt to force the death of Granny fails. Granny only accepts the fact that she has to die when the Angel of Death visits her (Kaibr, Kadhim& Guo, 2018) .
Conclusion
It is good for family members to unite, love and peacefully co-exist with one another. Rifts in families cause a lot of harm to family members who appear vulnerable and defenseless. Respect for every individual in the family should be paramount to help avoid adverse emotional and psychological aspects that are affecting families.
References
Kaibr, Kadhim Hatem, and Guo Jingjing. "Family disintegration in ALBEE’S the sandbox." european Journal of English Language and Literature Studies 6.1 (2018): 9-13.
Antrim Donald (December 25, 2000). “Black Mountain, 1997.” The New Yorker . Retrieved February 18, (2014).
