Analysis Of Sins Of The Father By W. D Ehrhart

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Bullies are unfortunately a common childhood nightmare, but at the end of the day the tormentors and the tormented grow up and life goes on. However, one has to wonder what the average bullies are like when they ascend into adulthood and have children of their own. Do they ever regret their immature childhood actions or simply move through life without giving their past actions another thought? W.D Ehrhart’s poem titled, Sins of the Father, was published in 2010, and it gives the reader an intriguing look into the life of a former bully. He credits his wife and daughter with strongly influencing his poem’s topics which give the reader reason to assume that Ehrhart is the father spoken of in his poem. Erhart’s poem gives a unique perspective of a former bully using tone and irony which leads his readers to ruminate on hurtful things they sometimes say to other people and the potential fallout from such hurtful taunts and name-calling.
Ehrhart’s poem recounts a former bully whose …show more content…

Erhart writes, “We kept this up for years, and not / for any reason I could tell you now / except that it was fun” (Lines 12-14). The father cannot explain why he did what he did, except that it was for amusement. When he was a child, he did not think about his actions until he is older and has a daughter on the receiving end. He writes, “The nights that Barbara / must have cried herself to sleep, the days / she must have dreaded getting up for school” (15-17). He is now coming to the unfortunate realization that he poked fun at other people because he thought it was fun, but until now he has never thought about the ramifications of tormenting others. If he had thought about the consequences of his actions when he was young, he would not be in the predicament of guilt he is in

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