Risky Powder The relationship between a father and a son is complex. Despite the undeniable bond between them as both men, there comes a time when one grows more distant from the other and both grows apart despite the fact that they are growing more and more alike each other. In the brief and haunting short story by Tobias Wolff entitled “Powder,” Wolff explores this tenuous relationship to tell the story of how a distant relationship between one reckless father and his conscientious son is breached as the son, in retrospect, makes sense of his father’s misunderstood character. The story is told in the perspective of a narrator much older than he was in the actual narrative. He begins with a telling description of his father, setting the
Night: Passage Analysis Troubling thoughts consumed young Elie because he saw the ways in which father-son relationships are torn asunder by the camps. He watches as sons deny—or at least consider denying—care to their fathers, putting their own interests before their loved ones. Elie struggles with the same conflict when his father becomes ill, and when his father finally dies, Elie is profoundly sad though also proud that he never wholly compromised his own beliefs about family. The reason that Elie finds the deterioration of father-son relationships so painful is that the maintenance of this relationship seems to be the last barrier between a world that is semi-normal and one that has completely been turned upside down. Elie must continue
He gets over whelmed with second thoughts of decision which he made at that moment. In order to get him back on his quest a benevolent guide, his internal strength of curiosity and concern about young man assisted him in his experience. He then started imagining the worst scenarios that could happen to the young man. He wonders “if he is mentally disturbed” or “if he is thinking about suicide”. The narrator is unable to live with this sense of regret and unanswered questions, filled with frustration.
‘Please. You can’t you have to carry the fire… ‘I can’t just take me with you papa. I can’t.”(McCarthy, 278). The intent in writing this paper was to set the mood and tone to that of a dark state and bring the audience into the book and make them feel the pain that the boy is feeling. The tone after reading this passage comes out as a dark and depressing one in which you feel for the boy and know that he is having a hard time with his father’s death.
Theme Paragraph for “The Father” In the short story, “The Father”, by Hugh Garner, the father (John Purcell) moves from being selfish and ignorant to realizing he is the one who has created a void between his son (Johnny) and himself. The father, a former war veteran believed his responsibility ended with providing money, without spending time with the family. However, the son does not see it this way and feels his father should be involved more often. The son tries to get the attention
Sonny’s Blues This story is about regret and heartache between to brothers. This story is meant to tell the story of a younger brother and his struggles with life and how decisions he made affected those around him. The problem I found with the story is that it never really explained exactly what took place in his life to drive him to where he was in his adult life. The story talked a little about the relationship that he had with his father and the hardships he endured because he wanted Sonny to be a better person. It talked about his mother and her protective ways.
If it was not evident in earlier scenes, it is now clear that Biff in no salesman. He has been “talking in a dream” pretending to be something he is not. This is an inner conflict that Biff has been wrestling with for years now. He now comes to realize the he’s unhappy and he’s only conforming to this harsh, man-eating profession to please his father. This once inner conflict soon becomes an outward conflict between Biff and Willy.
He tries to get Sonny to think about his future and he basically becomes Sonny's father figure once their parents have passed away. Although he doesn't really understand Sonny or his passion for music, he does have Sonny's best interests at heart. You could also look at it another way and say that the narrator had his faults also. We could argue that he abandons Sonny when Sonny needs him the most. And perhaps, as Sonny suspects, the narrator is really just upset that Sonny has chosen a life that's different from his own.
Both of the poems ‘Born Yesterday’ and Nettles’ deal with an unidealistic view focused on the inability to protect our loved ones from inevitable pain. Both Vernon Scanell and Phillip Larkin convey the theme of the lack of power to deliver happiness using the relationship between a man and a beloved child. In the poem ‘Nettles’, the relationship explored is between a father and son using the adult’s perspective whereas ‘Born Yesterday’ uses a bond between a man and his friend’s new born daughter. The first poem recalls an incident where Scanell’s young son was stung by nettles, displaying the poet’s desire to protect his son from the dangers of the world. The title ‘Nettles’ creates the thought of the severe stinging pain that the nettles produce that the reader will have experienced.
Whereas, Armitage shows a son who finds it harder to describe his feelings for his father, and shows it by using an extended metaphor of a harmonium, in order to show the reader all the memories he has had because of his father, and how he loves him. The way his father jokes about his own death is an example of the stereotypical father and son relationship; not as open about feelings. ...read