Father-Son Relationships in The Chosen, The Gift, and Paul's Case
The bond between a parent and a child is one of the strongest things on this earth. The relationships between father and son in the novel The Chosen by Chaim Potok, the poem "The Gift" by Li-Young Lee, and the short story "Paul's Case" by Willa Cather all show this strong bond. In all three genres father and son are the most prominent characters. All have the absence or near absence of mother figures. They also all show how important a father is to his son. The Chosen by Chaim Potok, "The Gift" by Li-Young Lee, and "Paul's Case" by Willa Cather all show the importance of father-son relationships through the fathers' involvement in their sons' lives, the fathers teaching their sons life skills, and the fathers' immense love for their sons.
The fathers in The Chosen, "The Gift," and "Paul's Case" all show involvement in their sons' lives through the care that they give them and the help they give them. In The Chosen, David Malter showed a great amount of care for his son Reuven. When Reuven was in the hospital, David often would come to visit him to see if he was all right. He was also always kind and understanding towards Reuven, even if Reuven did something he didn't approve of. Potok writes, "He looked at me and I saw his eyes were suddenly sad. 'I did not intend to scold you,' he said"(Potok 64). In "The Gift," the speaker's father also showed care towards the speaker in the removing of the splinter. The father did it in such a way as to give the child no pain. The speaker says, "To pull the metal splinter from my palm / my father recited a story in a low voice / I watched his lovely face and not the blade / before the ...
... middle of paper ...
... and their love for their sons, no matter what kind of love it may be. The father-son relationship is enhanced in these works by the absence of mothers, who had either passed on or were not very essential to the plot of the work. Through these works, the importance of a father-son relationship can truly be shown.
Works Cited
Cather, Willa. "Paul's Case." Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. 7th ed. Ed. Thomas R. Arp. Ft. Worth: Harcourt, 1998. 154-169.
Potok, Chaim. The Chosen. Ballantine Books. New York City, New York. 1967.
Works Consulted:
Chang, Juliana. "Reading Asian American Poetry." MELUS 21.1 (Spring 1996): 81-98
Lee, Li-Young. Rose. New York: BOA, 1986.
-----. The City in Which I Love You. New York: BOA, 1990.
-----. The Winged Seed: A Remembrance. New York: Simon, 1995.
Cather, Willa. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 5th edition, Vol 2. New York:W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1998, Pgs 937-1070.
Updike, John. "A & P." The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 2nd Edition. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: St. Martin's Press, 1990. 407-411.
Fathers and sons have special bonds that connect them in a different way from other individuals. Although they may not expose much emotion, respect and honor are key factors that link their relationships. Siddhartha and his father had a certain understanding towards each other. Siddhartha loved, feared, respected and was patient towards his father; an equal amount of these traits were reciprocated with the addition of understanding.
Maybe the problem is partly in what we expect a father to be. The film raises the problem of whether someone can function as both a great
The role of a father is more than just another parent at home (Popenoe, 1996). Having a father, the male biological parent in a child’s life is important because it brings a different type of parenting that cannot be replicated by anyone else (Stanton, 2010). Fathers who are present and active in a child’s life provide great benefits to a developing child (Popenoe, 1996). Having a father brings a different kind of love. The love of the father is more expectant and instrumental, different from the love of a mother (Stanton, as cited in Pruett, 1987).
The author shows how the feelings of each character affects the story. The sentiment of the father throughout the story is his selfishness. He doesn’t care much about other people
The Intuitionist, a novel written by Colson Whitehead, illustrates many aspects of society through the parody of a detective novel. Since elevator inspectors have no detective talents, the idea is just a cover, underneath which lies a myriad of the author's opinions on society. The book, published only in the year nineteen-ninety-nine, is filled with miniscule clues that pilot one toward substantial metaphors. Among these are racism, politics, one's place in society, and so on and so forth. This novel is an ocean of allegories in its youth, its depths waiting to be explored.
There is a special bond between parents and children, but there is always uncertainty, whether it’s with the parents having to let go or the children, now adults, reminiscing on the times they had with their parents. The poem “To a Daughter Leaving Home” by Linda Pastan is a very emotional poem about what you can assume: a daughter leaving home. Then the poem “Alzheimer 's" by Kelly Cherry is about the poet’s father, a former professional musician who develops the disease. These are only two examples that show the ambivalence between the parents and the children.
In the biography, the narrator writes about his childhood life, and how he tries to live up to his dad who he never met. In theory, mothers and fathers are very essential in child development. Mothers are there to nature and provide for a child; while fathers are there to give guidance and be a role model. There are two kinds of
Regardless of how a child acts towards their parents, all that matters in the end is their unconditional love for them. However, the time it takes for them to express their gratitude will depend on each child. In the novel The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri demonstrates this, describing the life of a young boy named Gogol and his continually progressing relationship with his mother. It demonstrates that a child is unable to view his or her parents as a human being until the parent figure experiences a traumatic event that allows the child to empathize with their parents.
Feste, the fool character in Twelfth Night, in many ways represents a playwright figure, and embodies the reach and tools of the theater. He criticizes, manipulates and entertains the other characters while causing them to reflect on their life situations, which is similar to the way a playwright such as Shakespeare interacts with his audience. Furthermore, more so than the other characters in the play he accomplishes this in a highly performative way, involving song and clever wordplay that must be decoded, and is thus particularly reflective of the mechanisms at the command of the playwright. Feste is a representation of the medieval fool figure, who is empowered by his low status and able to speak the truth of the kingdom. A playwright speaks the truth by using actors and fictional characters, who are in a parallel low status in comparison to the audience, as they lack the dimensionality of real people. Thus, the role Feste plays in the lives of the characters in the play resembles the role the play itself plays in the lives of the audience watching the performance. This essay will explore this comparison first by analyzing similarities between the way in which Feste interacts with other characters and the way the playwright interact with the audience, and then focus on the similarities between the aims and content of these interactions.
The role of a father could be a difficult task when raising a son. The ideal relationship between father and son perhaps may be; the father sets the rules and the son obeys them respectfully. However it is quite difficult to balance a healthy relationship between father and son, because of what a father expects from his son. For instance in the narratives, “Death of a Salesman,” and “Fences” both Willy and Troy are fathers who have a difficult time in earning respect from their sons, and being a role model for them. Between, “Death of a Salesman,” and “Fences,” both protagonists, Willy and Troy both depict the role of a father in distinctive ways; however, in their struggle, Willy is the more sympathetic of the two.
The Function of Disguise in Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare William Shakespeare's play, Twelfth Night is based around disguise and deception, both mental and physical. The deception leads to a lot of misunderstanding and subsequently, a lot of humour. The tale begins in Illyria with the Duke Orsino, who is suffering due to his unrequited love for the Lady Olivia. The Lady is also suffering from the recent loss of her brother and father, and currently wants nothing to do with the equally mournful Duke. A disguise is used for safety when a young character named Viola becomes shipwrecked in Illyria.
Schwarz, Danie Reference Guide to English Literature, 2nd ed., edited by D. L. Kirkpatrick, St. James Press, 1991
The values and ethics in this novel are an importance to the family because it gives the children and adults a guideline and reminder on how to act and what they strive for. From an early childhood the children are taught to be well mannered and if you?re a female, you are taught to act like a lady. Papa also taught them about their religion from when the girls were babies .