As a class, we read about two situations. One situation was about a young girl who had realized how ashamed and how negative the affect of her father’s failure was to her. Another situation was about a boy who grows up and eventually had to choose between leaving his family and studying just like all of his siblings or staying and helping the family. Both of the stories showed the fatherhood each of the fathers had or lacked. The first story is called “Wing’s Chips” by Mavis Gallant and the second story is “The Boat” by Alistair MacLeod.
In the two short stories it seems as if the sons’ relationships with their father were quite different, but they also had their similarities because both of them cared for their son. In the story “Powder” the father took good care of his son for he continually tried to give his son what he thought was best. He fought for the privilege to see his son after he already snuck him into a jazz club to see Thelonious Monk (Wolff 1). He was a good dad, for as his son says “He wouldn’t give up. He promised, hand on heart, to take good care of me and have me home for dinner on Christmas Eve” (Wolff 1).
How important is family loyalty in the film? In his film On the Waterfront, Elia Kazan places great emphasis on the notion of loyalty. Not only does the film portray family allegiance as the blood ties between kin but also depicts the Hoboken community and the longshoremen as a faithful family. Similarly, despite the many vices of Johnny friendly and his goons, even these men display a sense of kinship. From the onset of the film, Kazan underpins the strength of family ties through a close-up of Edie, capturing her raw hurt and anger, as she demands to uncover ‘who killed, [her] brother’ the propelling force behind the plot.
The author writes this story about the two brothers that grow up together into two different ways of other. The two completely different lives of two brothers contribute to the story as being safe and taking risk. The narrator is the older brother who grows up into a good future. He lives in a good house and has a stable job as being a math teacher. Also, the older brother is one of the respectable family men who always put his family as one of the top priority of his life.
The family doctor, Dr. Bennett, tells William and his mother “If you have any peace to make with Edward, anything to say at all, I suggest you say it now” (page 13). This notion of having last words is what seems to spike William’s interest in who Edward really is. William states that as his father begins to pass away he becomes “a man, a man without a job, without a story to tell, a man, I realized, I didn’t know” (page 17). Edward begins to open up to his son when telling of how all he wanted was to be a “great
“Words give us symbolic vehicles to communicate our creations and discoveries to others”. When Sonny told his father that he adopted a kid, the specific words he used had a strong influence on the dad’s reaction. Beebe, Beebe, and Ivy also noted that “when you label something good or bad you use language to create your own vision of how you experience the world”. In this particular scene, Sonny was stuttering a lot and his words symbolized his confusion of the current situation. Beebe, Beebe, & Ivy (2012) noted that “words and actions are tools we use to let someone know whether we support them or not”(p.76) Jack Gibbs has researched supportive and defensive communication for a couple years now and he defines defensive communication as “a language that creates a climate of hostility and mistrust”(p. 76-77) In the scene the father uses crude language and even goes to the extent of saying that “the kid would be better off living in a dumpster than with Sonny” (Adam Sandler).
The first time a child leaves home is an important milestone in every family. This principle applies to even families belonging to the nobility in the mid-eighteenth century. In Lord Chesterfield’s letter to his son, he voices many opinions about him that many parents would like to say to their children even today. Lord Chesterfield skillfully uses subliminal messages in diction, humble concessions, contradictory language, indirect threats, and demoralizing lectures to impose his values on his insubordinate son. It is clear to the reader that his son takes his father for granted and the letter is a last-ditch effort by Lord Chesterfield to help him.
Gilgamesh was an almighty king but longed for a friend and he dreams about that one day he will encounter a trusted companion (10-11). With these feelings between the two men, it draws them together. When they compete in a battle, there is a sense of friendship forming. Especially once they acknowledge one another’s strength and respect for one another; “As one unique your mother bore you, the wild cow of the fold, the goddess Ninsum! High over warriors you are exalted, to be king of the people Enlil made it your destiny!” (16).They seal their new friendship with embracing one another and a kiss.
This input from the boy helps build the father and son's relationship that the whole novel is based on. Another aspect of the father and son relationship is their love they have for one another. Many of the fathers actions help exemplify the love he has for his son. Throughout the novel there a countless number of times when the father puts his son before himself. For example, the father gives his son the last of the food and water.
A World of Guilt: Amir’s Struggle to Become a Better Man In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Amir struggles to become a man. His idealization of manhood is largely derived from the influence of his father his primary role model, Baba. Baba is a strong, assertive and confidant man in Amir’s eyes and despite their differences, Amir strives to embody this type of masculinity. However, Amir only becomes a better man when he is broken down and beaten into a humble man. Amir’s relationship to his mother, father and half brother, Hassan, are guilt ridden and strained.