An analysis of the Scavo Family as seen on ABC’s premiere TV soap opera

Breanna Pimpare

The Scavos

Mother Lynette Scavo, Father Tom Scavo, twin sons Porter

and Preston, younger son Parker, older daughter Penny and baby Paige all make up this loving family from the

show Desperate Housewives.

This family of, eventually, seven lives in a suburban

neighborhood where scandal occurs around every corner. For the most part the Scavos play a traditional family role compared to their less than

“normal” friends and neighbors.

The Scavos as a Cohesive Family

O “Family members strive for emotional closeness, loyalty, and togetherness with emphasis on some individuality” (PG 31)

The Scavos share experiences together such as meals, family trips, school functions etc. as well as Tom and Lynette that manage their time both together and apart. Lynette has a close group of girlfriends on the lane that she plays poker with weekly and gets together with for coffee. All members of the family have their own individuality but they know they always have each other for support.

A flexible adaptability

O The Scavos struggle with ups and downs of who the “bread winner” will be how to balance career and home life. Both Tom and Lynette “share decision making, and shifting rules and roles.” (PG 32) Lynette becomes a career woman at times when Tom takes a turn being a stay at home dad, Lynette compromises her career to help Tom build his dream pizzeria and Tom provides for the family when Lynette battles with lymphoma and cannot work etc. High levels of changes occur in this family and everyone learns to adapt quickly.

Family Intimacy

“Involves interpersonal devotion

along intellectual, emotional, and physical dimensions, demonstrated by shared

knowledge and understanding

or others as well as close loving

relationships appropriately reflective of developmental

stages and culture.” (PG 127)

The Scavo family includes five

children. Intimacy between all

of the children and both their

parents is important for creating

a sense of community in their

often hectic home. While not

away on business Tom manages

to give Lynette all the help he

can be taking the children off her hands.

Personal Resources-

Lynette’s Power

Lynette appears to be controlling due partly to her

insecurities from her past and

also her corporate career that always put her in charge. She has strong will power keeping up with her hectic family of five children who

are always misbehaving. She

likes to see herself as the one to wear “the pants” in the

family although her husband Tom puts up a struggle when

she goes too far.

Commitment:“Implies intense singular energy directed toward sustaining a relationship.” (PG 129)

O Tom and Lynette stay not only committed to each other, but supportive of each other, always complimentary and happy with their marriage because they want to, not because they have to. They face illness, incredible stress from children, Toms other daughter who was unknown for a prolonged period of time and a secret dealing with Lynette’s college roommate and Tom.

Marital self-disclosure: involves not only the disclosure by one partner but the listener’s responses that can be perceived as supportive, understanding, accepting or caring.” (PG

132)

Lynette struggles to convey to Tom what it is like being a stay-at-home parent after being a successful business woman prior to

having kids. Lynette not only discloses to Tom what it is like, she leaves him at home one night while she attends a party after filling

her ADD kids up with sugar. Tom thanks Lynette for opening his eyes and promises to be more supportive.

Intimacy

Tom and Lynette don’t always get much alone

time dealing with separate careers on both

their parts. They get creative at times and find sneaky ways to continue showing their affection.

Tom hits a “mid-life crisis” and decides he wants to

open up a pizzeria. Lynette, although hesitant because of money issues, supports Tom’s dream as they work

together to make it a successful business.

Family Roles

Not only does Lynette take care of her

children when they are sick or get hurt,

she takes the nurturing role with Tom.

“We define family roles are recurring

patterns of behavior developed through

the interaction that family members use

to fulfill family functions.” (PG 150)

As a mother of five Lynette has fully

accepted a nurturing nature. Although she

sometimes fantasizes about being a career

woman rather then a stay at home mother,

it is evident through her loving gestures

that she has accepted her role as the

“nurturing” one in the family.

When twins Porter and Preston get head

lice from school and find themselves

uninvited to a birthday party because

rumors spread that they are the reason for

the outbreak Lynette steps in to take

charge. No sooner does Lynette find this

out she heads down to the school nurse to

uncover the truth about which kids are actually to blame.

Lynette proves again and again that she

will go to extreme lengths to make her children happy.

Lynette's friends jokingly tell her that she

has not 5 kids in her house but 6 including

Tom. In an incident at the pizzeria, Tom

throws out his back in is out of work and

on bed rest of five months. Lynette once

again steps up to the plate and caters to

the family needs as well as their business.

DialogueTom and Lynette face challenges throughout their marriage on the show including Lynette’s diagnosis with lymphoma, Tom’s secrets from his past affairs, financial stress putting their five children through school, constant power struggles between being the stay-at-home parent or the breadwinner, numerous mid-life crisis's ranging from when Tom decides to buy an expensive sports car without consulting Lynette to his decision to be in a childish garage band, to him opening a pizzeria and going back to college to learn Chinese. Communication and “…an interactive involvement between two people.” (PG 112) is absolutely necessary to get through their often tough times.

Coping

The Scavo’s struggle with mother Lynette's recent cancer

diagnosis and a tornado that hits

their lane and almost ruins their family.

“Coping implies the central

mechanism through which family

stressors, demands, and strains

are eliminated, managed and adapted to.” (PG 281)

Lynette’s struggle with cancer

puts a strain on their entire

family as Tom has to act as the

sole provider for the family. A

series of unfortunate events

happen to this family often, but

they manage the stress well.

Deception- Tom’s SecretO Tom fails to tell his wife and

family about his other daughter Kayla that he had with another woman in his past. Tom’s secret is on the verge of being a toxic secret when Lynette threatens to leave Tom and take the kids. “Toxic secrets poison family relationships; key family issues and stories remain untold and unexplained.” (PG 89) After revealing his secret other life Lynette and the children learn to accept Kayla into their family.

Jealously- “…is an aversive emotional experience characterized by feelings of anger, sadness and fear induced by the threat or actual loss of a relationship with another person to a real or imagined rival.” (PG 146)

O Throughout their marriage Tom and Lynette experience many instances of jealously on both their parts. Lynette finds out that her friend and old roommate Renee had a love affair with Tom in their past, or when Tom Realizes the new manager at their pizzeria is staying late after hours just to get closer to Lynette.

Other Intimacy Factors

Sacrifice: Tom and Lynette are the #1 sacrificing couple on the show especially when it comes to their careers. They each give up their dream careers at one point or

another to comply with the others demanding schedule. Tom works

in Advertising and so does Lynette so the tension runs high at times when one is succeeding and the other must act as a stay at home parent. Regardless both give in to sacrifice to make their marriage

work.

ForgivenessTom finds out that he has a daughter separate from his

immediate children whom he had with another woman 12 years prior. Although Tom is

unaware of the conceiving of this little girl for some time, he is highly aware of the incident

involving this other woman much before his marriage with Lynette. Lynette does not find out about

his deep secret until the she catches Tom sneaking around and spending money on movie

tickets and flowers, which Lynette assumes is for another woman. All the while Tom hides his secret until he has no choice but to come clean when Lynette threatens to leave him unless he

unveils the truth…

Continued…

The mother of Toms daughter Kayla demands child support as well as becoming a part of the Scavo family's daily lives.

Lynette digs deep into her heart to welcome this new child and to forgive Tom for never telling her of his love affair.

Validating Conflict Type

O “…partners respect one another’s point of view on a variety of topics and, when they disagree, try to work out a compromise.” (PG 172)

O Lynette’s past of growing up with an alcoholic mother makes for a difficult power struggle between Lynette and Tom. This troubled childhood left Lynette with a constant fear that everything in her life could fall apart suddenly, so she needs to control everything in order to feel safe and secure. Lynette's insecurities about her past make for her need to control everything often overbearing for Tom to always have to step down to. But regardless they make a point to understand each others point of view whether it’s concerning work, their misbehaving children or their personal ambitions such as Tom’s choice to quit his job and go back to college to learn Chinese.