ISALC: ESL 382: Computer Applications - Fall 2000
Hatchet: Student Survival Guide

Re

Topic on Hatchet

Children of Divorce
Researched by Ahmed Al-Motawaa.
Writing checked by Akiko Okada.

This is what I knew about children of divorce before reading Hatchet:

Why do people get divorced? That's a really important question. I think people get divorced because they have different opinions; they have different ideas about marriage, health problems, and things like that.

And what I know about that is in the United States there are a lot of divorces, but in my country, the United Arab Emirates, there is not. Divorce can make children feel lonely and children are going to miss one of their parents, so I found some Web sites that talked about that. They have a lot of information about children of divorce.

This is why Children of Divorce was important in Hatchet:

If anyone reads Hatchet, he or she is going to know the relationship between the book and children of divorce because Brian was one of those children who had this kind of problem. His parents got divorced. We realize that from Hatchet when Brian went to Canada to stay with his father in the summer and then returned to his mother in New York.

After reading Hatchet and completing my Internet research, this is what I have learned about children of divorce:

I believe that divorce has a strong impact on children. According to the article, "The Effect Of Divorce On Children," separation of parents may put the child's life in danger. Divorce is a difficult emotional experience for them. As we know, children don't have much experience in life that can help them understand what happens between their parents. Particularly, children at the young age need more attention in their life from their parents, so they may be affected by this loss.

In addition, recent studies show that divorce causes certain reactions. For example, children might get angry at their parents because they believe that their parents should be together. Also, children might blame themselves, believing that they are the cause of separation.

Moreover, children's experience of the parent's divorce may cause changes in behaviors, emotions, and habits. That experience might cause a great depression in their life, for example, sometimes they might kill themselves or they might do something that is going to hurt their bodies or their feeling, such as, playing outside the house without looking out for danger, and playing with dangerous items in the kitchen.

Also, divorce may affect children's life at school. Recent studies shows that students from divorced parents concentrate less in the class and have lower attendance in school.

In conclusion, divorce is one of the most harmful experiences in children's life. Divorce may affect their behaviors and emotions. Children are the most sensitive part of the family, so we should know that and think what will happened to the children before parents get divorced.

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Updated: 10/20/00