Poetry, just like other literatures plays an imperative role in the development of several aspects of life. It uses components essential for human development such as articulate vocabulary, reasoning skills, and spiritual and moral development among others. This study reflects on the nature of love in the family in poems: A Father to His Son by Carl Sandburg, Mother to Son by Langston Hughes, and The Ballad of the Harp Weaver by Edna St. Vincent Millay. The common idea is that being part of a family requires a relationship based on love. In the poem A Father to his Son by Carl Sandburg, a father advises his son, leading him through a set of guidelines and values to assist him untie the knot of inextricable uncertainties, problems, pain, and complexities of life.
Charlie Feehan had a hard life before he won the Ballarat Miles competition. The protagonist was already in a difficult position at the start of the novel. After his father has passed away, Charlie had to ‘stepped into long the pants of adulthood’ and take on the responsibility of a grown up. This shows that he had to step in and be ‘…the man of the house’ at a very young age, whereas nowadays teenagers were barely independent even after they have graduated for university. In Charlie’s conditions, even a rabbit stew or a warm water bath was to be looked forward to on a Saturday night and warmth was from the ‘…pieces of fallen bark’ which he gathers from Mr Peacock.
The farther Digger travels in this poem, the more we learn about him as a person. The poem begins with Digger and his family preparing for their trip to Florida. You learn that their son will not be joining them due to the fact that he has to work. Digger seems a little sad by this news, since this is “the first time your son will not go with you,” but he understands since he does have a good excuse. Then we see that Digger feels guilty for giving his wife “nothing.” This emotion of guilt seems to set the stage for the rest of this poem.
“Reunion” by John Cheever is a short story about Charlie who hasn’t seen his father since his parents’ divorce. So on his way back to his mother’s house he schedules a lunch with his father. Yet Charlie’s view on his father changes when his father continually has problems controlling his bad attitude. In “Powder and “Reunion” the authors use father/son relationships, point of view and conflict to portray to the reader that almost all father and son relationships have their flaws. 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.
When Huck Finn live with his father, he, “Fished and hunted and that was what we lived on” (Twain 115). In order for Huck to eat, he must use the environment he lives in to obtain food. Also, Huck was getting used to living with Widow Douglas and Miss Watson until his father kidnapped him. While living with his father, “It warn’t long after that till I was sued to being where I was, and liked it” (Twain 115). Huckleberry Finn enjoys living a lazy, comfortable lifestyle, without responsibilities and studying.
So it is up to Jody and Bill Buck to try and help the helpless animal. Billy does whatever he can to help this animal survive, but one night Gabilan ran away from the ranch and ended up dead the next morning. Jody felt that he had let his father down tremendously and so he took it very hard on himself because the one responsibility he was given, he felt he failed himself and his father. This is where Jody’s internal conflicts began. For Jody having to take on a sense of responsibility was a new life skill he had never encountered before.
When his family was very poor it affected their lives in many ways. Bing poor caused O-lan the slave in the family to kill the ox to feed their family one last time, to kill an ox that provided them so much, to kill an ox that Wang lung deeply loved and couldn’t do on his own. When o-lan was pregnant with her second child she killed it before it had a chance to cry again, she killed it because if they had that baby it would be a great burden to the family knowing they have to feed another mouth, she killed her because if that child was born she would grow up like her sister with mental problem because of low nutrition that’s why o-lan killed her. Being poor caused o-lan and Wang lung to sell all of their belongings to have some money and move to the south to have a better life but that doesn’t mean they would get it. That’s what being poor caused his family to do.
Allie does not believe America is going in the right direction and therefore picks up his family and moves to Honduras. In Honduras, the Fox family overcomes many trials and tribulations due to their tremendous faith they have in Allie. He even leads them into the middle of the jungle into a run down town that he purchased from a man that they came across on the coast. This faith is short lived for the family begins to see that he is not as prepared as he thinks he is. After many hardships, adventures, and troubles, Charlie even sets out with the other children, including the Maywits, to build their own camp.
Andy loved his child and doubted he would kill anyone, but was afraid his father and grandfather’s killer instincts had been passed to him. The relationship between Andy and his mom was completely ruined. After the case was over Laurie and Andy had to find a school for Jacob. Doubting any school would accept “bloody Jacob Barber”. One day Jacob went with his mom to a school to see if they had luck this time.
Sam said that he was not ready to go home yet and his father said he could stay for a few more months. One month later his family came back and got him. They stayed in the Catskill Mountains to live. This story of survival taught me that kids could live in the wild, but it would be tough. I liked the book because it taught me some survival tips.