Being A Good Father
Although the essay “My Father’s Son” and the poem “my father’s son” written by the same author, Mel Donalson and have similar titles, they have different ways to express the son’s feeling of his father’s character, merit and devotion to his family. Both essay and poem’s main ideas center around affection and father’s commitment to his family. However, the poem only describes the cold weather and the father’s image in his regular life style without expression of the author’s deep feeling. It is understandable that the poem mainly expresses the author’s naïve character during his childhood. On the other hand, the essay is more detail in describing the author’s different feelings from his journey from boyhood to manhood. Unlike the poem, Donalson focuses on his life’s experience and development with his changeable attitude to father: from ungratefulness and contempt to thankfulness and respect. Although both the poem and essay are different in form and narrator, they share the same elements and visual images to support the author’s message of respect between a father and son.
The author, Donalson, uses visual images in both the poem and essay to describe the respectable father whom the author had. He uses the word “gladiator” to describe his father. “Gladiator” literally means man trained to fight with weapons at public shows in an arena; however, it symbolizes his father’s courage and tolerance of hard-working environment. In the poem, the poet portrays his father as “dark and beautiful” and uses the phrases “broadness of his back,” and “a large dry hand” to describe his father. “Dark and beautiful” tells the reader that the author knows his father’s humble origin in the South but he still appreciates his father’s appearance. “Broadness of his back” shows his father is a strong and powerful man. All those merits of his father give reason that his father is a respectable man. In the essay, similar descriptions used to describe his father like “dark shadow moving against the white background,” “dark face hidden beneath a knit cap,” and “his giant steps.” Donalson emphasizes his father is a big and powerful man. His endurance and responsibility to his family really please the author. His father never did anything special besides “piling the Christmas gifts” and “covering the car insurance” to his son but he can still manage to endear himself to his family.
In contrast to the poem, Donalson uses limited omniscient narrator in his essay to reveal to the reader his deep feelings of respect to his father.
Both poems are set in the past, and both fathers are manual labourers, which the poets admired as a child. Both poems indicate intense change in their fathers lives, that affected the poet in a drastic way. Role reversal between father and son is evident, and a change of emotion is present. These are some of the re-occurring themes in both poems. Both poems in effect deal with the loss of a loved one; whether it be physically or mentally.
The poem told the story of a man who is inhibited by language, and has never quite had the ability to articulate his thoughts and feeling through words. It is said that his family members have tried
“Those Winter Sundays” tells of Robert Hayden’s father and the cold mornings his father endures to keep his family warm in the winters. In “Digging” Heaney is sitting in the window watching his father do hard manual labor, which has taken a toll on his body. In “My Father as a Guitar” Espada goes to the doctors office with his father and is sitting in the office with his dad when the doctor tells him he has to take pain killers and to stop working because his body was growing old and weak. The authors of the poems all look at their fathers the same; they look at them with much respect and gratitude. All three poems tell of the hard work the dads have to do to keep their family fed and clothed. “The landlord, here a symbol of all the mainstream social institutions that hold authority over the working class” (Constantakis.) Espada’s father is growing old and his health is deteriorating quickly but his ability to stop working is not in his own hands, “I can’t the landlord won’t let me” (774.) “He is separated from the homeland, and his life in the United States is far from welcoming” (Constantakis.) Espada’s Grandmother dies in Puerto Rico and the family learns this by a lett...
Courage exists in several forms in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. As defined by Atticus Finch, real courage "…when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what” (149). The novel explores the how this real courage can be shown in different ways through the lives of many characters in Maycomb, particularly, Tom Robinson, Mrs. Dubose, and Atticus. Their courage is evident through their lifestyle, actions, and beliefs.
The events of our childhood and interactions with our parents is an outline of our views as parents ourselves. Although Robert Hayden’s relationship with his father differentiates from the relationship of Theodore Roethke and his father, they are both pondering back to their childhood and expressing the events in a poem. “My Papa’s Waltz” and “Those winter Sundays” provide the reader with an image of a childhood event which states how fathers are being viewed by their children. These poems reflect upon the relationship of the father and child when the child was a youth. Both Roethke and Hayden both indicate that their fathers weren’t perfect although they look back admiringly at their fathers’ actions. To most individuals, a father is a man that spends time with and takes care of them which gains him love and respect. An episode of Roethke’s childhood is illustrated in “My Papa’s Waltz”. In “My Papa’s Waltz”, the father comes home showing signs of alcohol and then begins waltzing with his son. Roethke states that the father’s hands are “battered on one knuckle”. The mother was so upset about the dancing that she did nothing other than frown. At the end of the day, the father waltzed the son to bed. “Those Winter Sundays” is based on a regular Sunday morning. The father rises early to wake his family and warm the house. To warm the house, he goes out in the cold and splits wood to start a fire. This is a poem about an older boy looking back to his childhood and regretting that “No one ever thanked him.” In Those Winter Sundays'; by Robert Hayden, the poet also relinquishes on a regular occurrence in his childhood. On Sunday mornings, just as any other morning, his father rises early and puts on his clothes in the cold darkness. He ...
A father can play many roles throughout a child’s life: a caregiver, friend, supporter, coach, protector, provider, companion, and so much more. In many situations, a father takes part in a very active position when it comes to being a positive role model who contributes to the overall well-being of the child. Such is the case for the father in the poem “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden. In this poem, readers are shown the discreet ways in which a father can love his child. On the other hand, there are also many unfortunate situations where the fathers of children are absent, or fail to treat the children with the love and respect that they undoubtedly deserve. In the contrasting poem “Like Riding a Bicycle” by George Bilgere, readers are shown how a son who was mistreated by his drunken father is affected by their past relationship many years later. Although both of these poems have fairly similar themes and literary techniques, they each focus on contradicting situations based on the various roles a father can play in a child’s life.
In the beginning, Jing-mei, is “just as excited as my mother,”(469). Jing-mei was eagerly hoping to make her mother proud. However, her mother’s obsession with becoming a prodigy discouraged Jing-mei. The daily test began to aggravated Jing-mei because they made her feel less sma...
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.
There are many factors that will shape a young boy’s life, but possibly none more important than the role of that boy’s father. Seamus Heaney and Theodore Roethke both have shown the importance of the father role in their poems “Digging” and “My Papas Waltz.” Although the roles of the fathers in these poems were different, the respect and admiration shown by their sons is one in the same. Weather it is Heaney’s father digging under his window, or Roehtke’s father dancing him around as a little boy, the love shown in these two poems, shows a direct relation on the lives they shared with their fathers.
Richard Russo's "Dog" and Amy Tan's "Two Kinds" are stories that illustrate the negative impacts parents sometimes have on their children and the unintended consequences that occur as a result of their parenting. In "Dog," Henry Devereaux grows into an adult who has difficulty connecting emotionally with others, a man who is not easy, and though entertaining, is not comforting. In "Two Kinds," Jing-mei was a failure many times over in her mother's eyes, finally dropping out of college and only accepting of herself later in life.
looks at the time and how the poet's father has lack of control of the
...ies, she goes back to the piano and finds two songs. She begins to play “Pleading Child,” the song that caused the breaking point of her relationship with her mother. This song, with its fast and aggressive melody, best represents the mother’s aggressive attitude towards her daughter. Then Jing-mei plays the song next to “Pleading Child,” called “Perfectly Contented.” It turned out to be lighter and slower. It is a much happier song. Jing-mei’s determination to be herself, “Perfectly Contented,” corresponds with this song. “And after I played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song.” (499). Like the ying-yang and the songs, Jing-mei’s relationship with her mother may seem disastrous and apart, but together they share a strong bond that makes them whole. Even though the two disagree, like the songs, they form one beautiful song.
The story "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan is about a mother and daughter who have strong conflicting ideas about what it means to have a sense of self. This may be partly due to the mother growing up in China, which is a very different culture than the American culture where endless opportunities are available to anyone who wants to pursue them. Jing-mei's mother wants her daughter to be the best, a prodigy of sorts, and to have the kind of life, full of hopes and dreams that she did not have. In the beginning of the story Jing-mei liked the idea of becoming a prodigy however, the prodigy in her became impatient. "If you don't hurry up and get me out of here, I'm disappearing for good." It warned. "And then you'll always be nothing" (500). After disappointing her mother several times Jing-mei started to detest the idea of becoming a prodigy. The idea Jing-mei's mother had for her to become a prodigy was too much pressure for a small child and was something that Jing-mei was clearly not ready to be. As a result the pressure that her mother laid upon her only made Jing-mei rebel against her mother and she resisted in giving her best. Jing-mei did this because she only wanted her mother's love and acceptance for who she was not only what she could become. Furthermore, Jing-mei's point of view of being the kind of person that one can be proud of was very different from her mother's point of view.
The father is developed mainly using symbolism through diction in the extract. The father is represented using diction that associates him with animal imagery, and displays him as being in control of the situation. The authors use
In James Berry’s poem there are also many strong contrasts that help the readers to have a better understanding of the father’s character. Early on, the speaker first describes his father as “so black so muscular so well curved.” This image of a man has implications that he has a physically draining occupation that requires a large amount of time outdoors. In the initial reading of this description, one may believe that the son is praising the father. However, Berry immediately contrasts by describing the father as “a groomed showman too fit everyday for barefoot.” This statement turns the whole idea around and paints a picture of a man with too much pride to even walk barefoot. This changes the tone of the initial description to mocking and sardonic. This contrast between a hands-on, physical man and an arrogant “show man,” is further emphasized in stanza three. Rather than working outside in the fields, the father is “sat all day in the tall grass sweet-talking weak jaws.” The father’s lack of activity is again contrasted with the mother trying to “make money like food and clothes and be the sum of every question.” These contrasts highlight the arrogance and pride of the father in the son’s eyes. The speaker shows how he despises his father for having these qualities and also expresses sympathy towards his mother. Additionally, there is a contrast between the man that the father appears to be in society