Parent´s Decisions in Harry Mark Petrakis´s Song of Rodanthe and Amanda Michalopaulou´s The Firely Hunt

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In Harry Mark Petrakis's short story "Song of Rodanthe" and Amanda Michalopoulou's short story "The Firefly Hunt" the themes revolve around how parent's decisions affect their children. In "Song of Rodanthe" the main character is not allowed to choose the man she wants to marry unless her father approves. In "The Firefly Hunt" the main character attempts to reconnect with his children after divorcing their mother. The subject of male figures that attempt to control the women around them is common in Greek culture and writing. In Petrakis and Michalopoulou's stories the reader is shown how daughters are influenced by the choices their fathers make.
Michalopoulou is selectively descriptive when it comes to the main character of the unnamed father. With Michalopoulou's description of the father the reader is led to believe that he does not care about his children: "He'd gotten used to their backs, but it had been a long time since he'd seen their faces" (Michalopoulou, 77). Throughout the story one can see that the father is not completely like what he is first perceived to be. The father sneaks around and begins to cheat on his wife. The reader is informed that the wife is wheelchair bound and unable to move due to paralysis. When the father is "caught" cheating he leaves home and begins a life with his paramour, a young real estate agent. Feeling bad about leaving his two children he attempts to reconnect with them.
The children, Christina and Stella, believe that what the father did to their mother was "awful." Leaving the house not only affected the mother but affected them too, seeing as they were both so young. The father does not really understand that by divorcing their mother he did the same to them: "'When you're older, ...

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... children are left with the inability to make decisions for themselves or end up rebelling. The opposite is true in "The Firefly Hunt" as the daughters do not have a father figure for a period of time thus forcing them to look after each other and grow up faster than they should have to.
In Harry Mark Petrakis's short story "Song of Rodanthe" and Amanda Michalopoulou's short story "The Firefly Hunt" the concept of parent's actions affecting their children plays a major part. Even as a twenty seven year old woman, Rodanthe, is not allowed to make decisions for herself. She is forced to put on an act causing her to becoming sad and lonely. In "The Firefly Hunt," Christina and Stella are forced to grow up faster than they should due to the absence of their father. From both of these stories, one is shown how daughters are influenced by the choices their fathers make.

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