1. Everybody Loves Raymond: Visual
Representation of The Barone Family on
CBS
By: Kayla Cotsis

2. Family Characters
Raymond Barone: Ray is a successful sports
writer for Newsday. He has a nice house in
Long Island with his family and lives next to
his parents. He is babied, even as a grown
man. He finds himself in daily predicaments
due to the fact that he lives next door to his
parents. He is known for being whiney and
avoiding responsibility.
Debra Barone: Debra is Ray’s wife. She
holds most of the child-rearing responsibility.
She bullies Ray into doing things around the
house. Debra is constantly annoyed by Ray’s
family being so close. She claims to be an
over-worked and under-appreciated woman
who is stressed under pressures from Ray’s
mother.

3. Family Characters
Frank Barone: Frank is Ray’s Father. Frank has
worked as a book keeper. Frank served in the
Korean War and brings up stories of his experience,
which annoy the family. He has a very stubborn,
overly-masculine and lazy personality. Frank has no
problem criticizing family members and strangers
openly.
Marie Barone: Marie is a housewife. Known
for her good cooking, she is always out-doing
Debra as well as making sure she knows
what she did wrong. Marie coddles Raymond
because he is the Favored child. She is
intrusive and controlling in Ray and Debra’s
home.

4. Family Characters
Robert Barone: Robert is Raymond’s older brother.
Robert is a New York City police officer. He is
frequently seen being jealous of Ray because he is
the favored child and also because Ray has a nice
professional and family life. His appearance,
demeanor, and quirks make him a humorous
character.
Amy McDougall/Barone: She becomes Robert’s
wife. She is also Debra’s best friend. Amy was
raised by very religious parents and apologizes for
things she doesn’t do wrong. Marie favors Amy
over Debra because she is a “good girl”.

5. Cohesion:
Clearly we see that there is some cohesion within the family, but we also see intention for
the characters to be different from one another. I would categorize this family as Cohesive
because the family “strives for emotional closeness, loyalty, and togetherness with emphasis
on some individuality.” (Olsen, DeFrain, &Skogard, 2008: p31).

6. Flexibility
Although the family is cohesive, they have a structured flexibility because they do not
experience very high levels of change. They have “limited shared decision making and
leadership. They have relatively stable rules and roles” (p 32)
“Communication is central to the adaptive function of a family.” (p 33) We can see that
communication is many times non-verbal or not shown at all. This is the major cause of
dramatic situations over small matters. these matters hold deeper meaning for the family
members involved.

7. Analysis:
Within the Barone family, We can see that Marie
Ray has always been the is a major cause of
favored child. We find out any changes or shifts
that Marie’s pregnancy in cohesion and
with Robert is what forced flexibility. Her picking
her into marriage with of favorites is at the
Frank. This allows the base of many conflicts
viewer to see why she in the family, but not
would favor Ray over all. All 3 of the
Robert. It also gives even marriages have a
more reason to why she separate cohesion that
would favor Amy (Robert’s are each part of a
wife) over Debra larger one.
(Raymond’s wife).
Because nobody is god
enough for her perfect son
Raymond except for her

8. Relational Maintenance:
Marital/Partnership
Debra and Raymond: Their marital
maintenance is constantly seen in the
home. They usually communicatively
maintain their relationship through
being honest. It is a running theme
that they always have a long
interaction before going to bed.
Although they are a romantic couple,
the one of five that they lack from the
“maintenance strategies that
contribute to romantic relational
maintenance” (p107) is Openness.
There is always a lot of non-verbal
action taking place.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=1RtNuYX1Go4

9. Relational Maintenance: Sibling
“Certain adult sibling family
relationships are maintained
primarily through sharing
rituals, such as holiday
dinners or weddings.” (p 111)
The Barone’s meet for the
tradition of having dinner
together. Ray and Robert
share the tradition of
watching sports together on
a regular basis.
Through the relational
maintenance strategy of
rituals, Robert and Ray
“convey a variety of
meanings and messages in
emotionally powerful
patterns.” (p 113)

10. Providing for Individual Development
“This role function includes
those tasks that each
individual must fulfill in order
to become self sufficient.
Family members who do not
develop this role function can
easily become dependent.”
(p 157)
Raymond is an example of
someone who is still
dependent on his relationship
with his mother. Even if he is
not in need of such nurturing,
he accepts it. He always
avoids any kind of conflict
with her.

11. Role Expectations
Marie holds expectations for Debra to be a good housewife. She
criticizes her food and cleaning on a regular basis because she
expects those duties to be taken on by Debra, not Ray. Marie uses
herself as a “significant other” (p 163) when she uses her self as an
example for Debra to be a better housewife. She is the model within
her role expectation for Debra.

12. Family Conflict
The family conflicts often start with avoiding, where at least
one member refuses to engage in the issue due to their role.
Then it may move into compromise, where the individuals still
hold concern for their own needs, but they are willing to
realize the needs of everyone else.
Marie and Debra are always willing to get along for the
sake of the family, or put their differences aside because
their love for each other is stronger.

13. Text:
Family Communication: Cohesion and Change (Eighth Edition) by
Kathleen Galvin, Carma Bylu nd, and Bernard Brommel,
Allyn and Bacon. 2012.