My Papa's Waltz Alcoholism

A Waltz of Fond or Fear The purpose of art is always meant to generate a response from the observer. If 100 people analyze a piece of literature like “My Papa’s Waltz” and have them undecided opinions. “My Papa’s Waltz” will most likely generate a responses from the reader due lines that would suggest alcoholism and child abuse My Papa’s Waltz instead ,with its’s proper context, is about a child’s fond memories from infancy. From the outside, “My Papa’s Waltz” seems to be fairly dark. “The whisky on your breath/ could make a small boy dizzy” (1-2) from that line alone, many people would assume the father in the poem is an alcoholic. The narrator later goes on to tell us that: The hand that held my wrist
 Was battered on one knuckle;
 At every step you missed
 My right ear scraped a buckle. (9-12)

Many people with a history of abusive relationships would be quick to tell that this story is about an abusive father, however, with the right context, this does not seem to be the case. Instead of looking at the poem in an abusive light, the reader could also see it as a fond memory of dancing with their father in the kitchen. Just because the father’s breath smells of whiskey does not mean he has a history with alcoholism, whiskey just happens to be incredibly strong and can be the first thing one notices about a person. Instead of the father beating his child, it could be about him literally waltzing his son around the kitchen, without a care in the world. “We romped until the pans /
Slid from the kitchen shelf” (5-6). However pieces of literature like this can leave lots to one’s imagination. A piece such as this one truly shows how people will look choose not to look past the surface, but it’s always best to dig