In the poem “A Story” by Li-Young Lee, the author tells a story of a complex relationship between a father and son. The father is trying to find a story to tell his son. He does not want his son to get bored with the stories he usually tells. He tells a story of how he is scared of loosing his sons love. His son is coming of age and he doesn’t want this to change. He tells this story through numerous literary terms and techniques. Lee conveys the message of the poem through lengthy stanzas. As the poem goes on, the stanzas increase. The increase in stanza length represents the escalation on emotion. There are stanzas that are similar and certain stanzas have italics to make you understand better what the author is trying to say. The first three stanzas introduce us to the characters and how the tone of the poem will be. As the poem progresses, the father realizes the riff starting to form between his relationship with his son and starts to think about what will happen. He had thoughts of doubt and …show more content…
He knows his son will grow up to be a young adult and he will leave, having no one to tell his stories to. The stories complexity comes from the differences between the father and the son. The son still sees his father as his "Baba" a storyteller still but, the fathers comfort in knowing his son will be entertained is lost by his inability to produce a new a story. The father views the day of his sons departure from and pleas for him to hear one more story "Don't go! Hear the alligator story! The angel story... you laugh at the spider story. Let me tell it!” (Line 11-14) The father looks upon the days when the name "Baba" still defines him as an important part of his child's life. Silence conquers the relationship with the boys distance from his father and the father's supplication for his son's closure. Silence is what conquers the love of the father and the supplication of the boy for a
I have elected to analyze seven poems spoken by a child to its parent. Despite a wide variety of sentiments, all share one theme: the deep and complicated love between child and parent.
Any interpretation of this story is due to the reader’s personal emotions and feelings toward his or her own Papa. This story can be either a dance between him and his father, thus bringing them closer together. However, there is a darker side of this poem, on this side it is an unsettling fight between a boy and his drunken father and all the intimacy of the dance does not make an impression on the reader and is overshadowed by the anger they feel.
... overall themes, and the use of flashbacks. Both of the boys in these two poems reminisce on a past experience that they remember with their fathers. With both poems possessing strong sentimental tones, readers are shown how much of an impact a father can have on a child’s life. Clearly the two main characters experience very different past relationships with their fathers, but in the end they both come to realize the importance of having a father figure in their lives and how their experiences have impacted their futures.
A parent may want to understand their child and connect to them, but they may not know how to do it. In Li-Young Lee’s poem “A Story”, the literary devices point of view, metaphors, and the structure of the poem are used to portray the complex relationship of the father and child and their inability to be able to connect with one another despite their wishes to do so.
“I wanted to grow up and plough, /To close one eye, stiffen my arm.” (“Follower” 17-18). Seamus Heaney is writing about a son; interested in following his father’s footsteps to become a farmer. The poem depicts the son’s past memories of his father. Fascinated in his father’s work, influenced by his mastery at farming, the son strives to become the same at a young age. “The Writer” on the other hand, portrays a father’s observation of his daughter, struggling to write a story as an author. Both pieces, share a common interaction between parent and child, but the parent-child relationships themselves are fundamentally different. These poems represent a reflection of how the parents respectively tackle the task of raising their child.
The boy comprehends the severity of the situations he is faced with, such as lack of food or water, and treats his father with the same respect and equality that the man gives him. He insists on sharing his portions with his father when they are uneven, and he remains cautious at all times, even when his father is not. The boy’s fire is fueled by his love for his father, which is shown by the boy’s priority on caring for his father’s wellbeing, just as the man does for him. This love and responsibility, manifesting in the form of self-sacrifice and compassion, lies in direct juxtaposition to the rest of the world, where selfishness and indifference reigns
The speaker chooses that he wants to be a writer rather than what his father does since he had “…no spade to follow men like them.” The speaker uses emotion to put himself down while praising his elders. The speaker does not retain the meanings or the cravings to live as his family did and decides to use his pen to write instead. The speaker creates art based on his emotion about his family which allows a connection for the audience to relate
There is no greater bond then a boy and his father, the significant importance of having a father through your young life can help mold you to who you want to become without having emotional distraught or the fear of being neglected. This poem shows the importance in between the lines of how much love is deeply rooted between these two. In a boys life he must look up to his father as a mentor and his best friend, the father teaches the son as much as he can throughout his experience in life and build a strong relationship along the way. As the boy grows up after learning everything his father has taught him, he can provide help for his father at his old-age if problems were to come up in each others
The author uses imagery, contrasting diction, tones, and symbols in the poem to show two very different sides of the parent-child relationship. The poem’s theme is that even though parents and teenagers may have their disagreements, there is still an underlying love that binds the family together and helps them bridge their gap that is between them.
Form and meaning are what readers need to analyze to understand the poem that they are evaluating. In “Mother to Son”, his form of writing that is used frequently, is free verse. There is no set “form”, but he gets his point across in a very dramatic way. The poem is told by a mother who is trying to let her son know that in her life, she too has gone through many frustrations just like what her son is going through. The tone of this poem is very dramatic and tense because she illustrates the hardships that she had to go through in order to get where she is today. She explains that the hardships that she has gone through in her life have helped her become the person that she has come to be. Instead of Hughes being ironic, like he does in some of his poems, he is giving the reader true background on the mother’s life. By introducing the background, this helps get his point across to the reader in a very effective way. In this poem there are many key words which help portray the struggles that the mother is trying to express to her son. The poem is conveyed in a very “down to earth” manner. An example of this is, “Life for me ain’t been a crystal stair (462).” This quote shows the reader that the mom is trying to teach the son a lesson with out sugar coating it. She wants her son to know that throughout her life has had many obstacles to overcome, and that he too is going to have to get through his own obstacles no matter how frustrating it is. Her tone throughout the poem is stern telling the boy, “So boy, don’t turn your back (462).” The poems tone almost makes the reader believe that the mother is talking to them, almost as if I am being taught a valuable lesson.
For Olds, watching her son take a role of maturity is quite impressive. Although the birthday party consists of young boys, aging from six to seven they are mentioned in the poem and referred to as “men.” “Short men, men in first grade”, shows that Old is referring the term “men”, to the male guest, as well as her son. “Hands in pockets, they stand around, jostling, jockeying for place, small fights, breaking out and calming” this evidence appoints that Olds son cleared up the uncomfortable setting of his birthday party, and turned the party into a moderate “celebration of his life”. The observation of that Olds viewed of her son’s birthday party, shows that the celebration of her son’s life, will only result into him being an older man, and taking more mature roles. The “relationship cannot be repaired to an original” mommy’s precious little guy, mother and son
Nonetheless, this really is a tale of compelling love between the boy and his father. The actions of the boy throughout the story indicate that he really does love his father and seems very torn between his mother expectations and his father’s light heartedness. Many adults and children know this family circumstance so well that one can easily see the characters’ identities without the author even giving the boy and his father a name. Even without other surrounding verification of their lives, the plot, characters, and narrative have meshed together quite well.
In the story “Two Kinds”, the author, Amy Tan, intends to make reader think of the meaning behind the story. She doesn’t speak out as an analyzer to illustrate what is the real problem between her and her mother. Instead, she uses her own point of view as a narrator to state what she has experienced and what she feels in her mind all along the story. She has not judged what is right or wrong based on her opinion. Instead of giving instruction of how to solve a family issue, the author chooses to write a narrative diary containing her true feeling toward events during her childhood, which offers reader not only a clear account, but insight on how the narrator feels frustrated due to failing her mother’s expectations which leads to a large conflict between the narrator and her mother.
The afternoon was slowly fading into the evening and I had gone the whole day without the figure of my aspiration, my father. I impatiently paced the floor in front of the door like a stalking cat waiting to pounce on its prey. The thoughts of wrestling my father and hear those words of affirmation, “You got me! Mercy! I give up!” filled my head. My father was obviously faking it but there was something about his words that have such power over a young boys life. Mothers are sources of comfort and safety for a young boy but it is the father that defines the identity of a young boy, the father bestows manhood on the boy.
Adam, a corporal officer, starts as man who works everyday to catch the ‘villains’ of society, but is not spending enough time with his family, especially his son. He favors his nine year old daughter over his fifteen year old son. Adam views his daughter as a sweet child, and his son as a stubborn teenager who is going through a rebellious stage. However, when his daughter is killed in an accident, his perspective of family changes. In his grief, he states that he wishes he had been a better father. His wife reminds him that he still is a father and he realizes that he still has a chance with his son, Dylan. After his Daughter’s death, he creates a resolution from scriptures that states how he will be a better father. Because of the resolution he creates, he opens up to and spends more time with his son. By th...