It is important to understand the true meaning of dysfunction and its effects on humanity before examining the effects of the dysfunctionality of Sutpen and Breedlove families. In the general sense, dysfunction is the abnormal or unhealthy behaviour of people within a group. Moving from this point of view, a family is dysfunctional when there’s constant and everlasting conflict, neglect and misbehaviour in the domestic environment. There’s an enormous amount of psychological and emotional conflict within the family members, and sometimes it becomes coupled with neglect and abuse. Children from dysfunctional families assume that this is normal and most of the time this results in self-incrimination. Even though the term dysfunctional family is used deliberately in the popular culture, we must recognize that every argument doesn’t qualify as dysfunction. In fact, it may only become evident when unpleasant behaviours complicate the individual family members’ attempts to function, thrive and grow as healthy human beings. In order to have a healthy and happy adult, you need to plant the seeds of understanding and appreciation into your children, strengthen their roots with care and varnish their branches with compassion. Oppositely, growing up in a toxic environment can have a lasting impact on children transitioning into adulthood. The parents from dysfunctional families possess characteristics such as abusiveness, negligence, substance addiction and highly controlling behaviour which permanently scar children as they grow into adulthood and leave them at a risk of developing depression, low self-esteem, anxiety and other mental illnesses. That is why, when we look at Pecola Breedlove and Henry Sutpen, we see what man has cruelly made of man. They’re the embodiment of the wrong doings, abuse, conflict and neglect of the parental figures they had while growing up.