Family Portrait Symbol Analysis

In “Five-Dollar Family,” the family portrait symbolizes Michelle’s desire for the perfect family—or at least one that appears perfect on the outside. When the photographer prepares to take the portrait, Michelle poses Des and Jason “the way she’s planned it: Jason on her lap, Des with his arm around her.” That Michelle has mentally planned out how she wants everyone arranged in the picture speaks to how important it is to her that the picture looks a certain way. And indeed, she thinks to herself throughout the portrait session that she “needs one image at least that looks right,” and she already fantasizes about framing it and displaying it on a shelf next to the congratulatory cards people have sent her. Even though she’s struggling with her transition into motherhood, has a rocky relationship, is in severe physical pain from her stitches, and has a partner who is going to prison in two days, Michelle is focused on preserving the image (literally) of a happy family. Des’s arm around Michelle gives the appearance of closeness and affection—they look like two new parents in a happy, mutually loving relationship—but nothing in the story thus far has suggested that Michelle and Des actually share that kind of emotional warmth and love, or at least not in recent times.

The portrait’s cheap cost and location—it’s only $5 and takes place in a photography studio that’s inside a grocery store—suggests that Michelle is getting a cheapened version of the perfect family she longs for. In a prenatal class, she watches a video that shows a man rubbing his partner’s back as she prepares to give birth. Not only does Des not do this, but he actually excuses himself for the entirety of the labor to get himself a drink. While pregnant, Michelle often looked at greeting cards that depicted handsome men looking lovely at their newborns, but Des declines to hold Jason and looks at him with “startled distaste.” Des—who is laden with criminal charges and doesn’t have a job—is far from being the partner and father Michelle wants him to be.

The family takes two photographs: in the first, Jason is wearing a tiny leather motorcycle jacket that Des picked out (which Michelle hates), and Michelle thinks that she blinked or looked dazed. In the second photo, Michelle insists on removing Jason’s leather jacket. As they prepare to take the photo, Michelle is certain that this is the photo she’ll choose. But the moment the flash goes off, Jason begins to wail, and Michelle’s breastmilk suddenly comes in, seeping through her shirt. So while Michelle’s family is far from the perfect ideal she wants to project, even the picture itself doesn’t seem to come out the way she intended.