Analysis Of Sarah Vowell's Shooting Dad

825 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Family influence on socialization

Interesting relationships between parents and children are common in society today and Sarah Vowell wrote “Shooting Dad” to demonstrate her relationship with her father. The writing techniques that are easily found in this would be, comparing and contrasting, humor, and cause and effect. In her writing Vowell uses comparing and contrasting to show the differences and commons between her father and herself, humor to show the details of the relationship and cause and effect to demonstrate how the relationship developed into what it is now.
When jumping right into this essay the relationship is stated as being between father and daughter or Democrat and Republican but never states who is what class, this is leading to the first comparing …show more content…

The entire essay is cause and effect, from a little girl being made to shoot a gun and becoming afraid of them to a adult who enjoys loud music and learning she enjoys the noise of a cannon going off. After Vowell (2000) first shot the gun she remembers saying, “Satan, I rebuke thee” (p.174). This is a statement showing that the gun was a terrible thing and it reminded her of the work of the devil itself. The effects of stating the fear led to the lifelong want to stay away from guns and creating a barrier in the father and daughter relationship. Another point that holds great detail in a short amount of time was when the two shared the joy of firing the homemade cannon off into a hillside. By doing this, the two created a bond that led to Vowell promising to blow her dad into the earth. “I will plunge his remains into the barrel and point it into a hill so he doesn't take anyone with him. I will light the fuse. But I will not cover my ears. Because when I blow what used to be my dad into the earth, I want it to hurt” (Vowell, 2000, p.177). This is showing by sharing one thing with her father a life long bond, to be held up till the end of at least his life, was created by a simple

Show More
Related

  • Analyzing Scott Hightower's '¨my Father'

    1367 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the poem ¨My Father¨ by Scott Hightower, the author describes a rather unstable relationship with his now deceased father. Scott describes his father as a mix of both amazing and atrocious traits. The father is described as someone who constantly contradicts himself through his actions. He is never in between but either loving and heroic or cold and passive. The relationship between Scott and his father is shown to be always changing depending on the father’s mood towards him. He sees his father as the reason he now does certain things he finds bad. But at the end of it all, he owes a great deal to his father. Scott expresses that despite his flaws, his father helped shape the man he is today. Hightower uses certain diction, style, and imagery to

    Read More

  • The Nazi Seizure of Power by William Sheridan Allen

    920 Words  | 2 Pages

    Though there was not much difference in the sizes of three of the classes, there were still large differences in the incomes of these classes. From the class breakdown, you can see how the Nazi party could be so successful. With the classes set, you then begin to see the emergence of the political parties.

    Read More

  • Comparing 'All The Years Of Her Life And A New Perspective'

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    The mother and daughter have a very distant relationship because her mother is ill and not capable to be there, the mother wishes she could be but is physically unable. “I only remember my mother walking one time. She walked me to kindergarten." (Fein). The daughter’s point of view of her mother changes by having a child herself. In the short story the son has a mother that is willing to be helpful and there for him, but he does not take the time to care and listen to his mother, and the mother begins to get fed up with how Alfred behaves. "Be quiet don't speak to me, you've disgraced me again and again."(Callaghan). Another difference is the maturity level the son is a teenager that left school and is a trouble maker. The daughter is an adult who is reflecting back on her childhood by the feeling of being cheated in life, but sees in the end her mother was the one who was truly being cheated. “I may never understand why some of us are cheated in life. I only know, from this perspective, that I am not the one who was.” (Fein). The differences in the essay and short story show how the children do not realize how much their mothers care and love

    Read More

  • Economy and Social Class in the Articles "Class Matters" and in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    717 Words  | 2 Pages

    Fitzgerald and the journalists of Class Matters both placed major emphasis the differences in between classes and the absence of class mobility. This was in order to show that changes must be made and class mobility needs to increase. Both classes need to take on some characteristics of the opposite class in order for this to happen.

    Read More

  • A Literary Analysis Of 'A Story' By Li-Young Lee

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    A parent may want to understand their child and connect to them, but they may not know how to do it. In Li-Young Lee’s poem “A Story”, the literary devices point of view, metaphors, and the structure of the poem are used to portray the complex relationship of the father and child and their inability to be able to connect with one another despite their wishes to do so.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Arm Wrestling With My Father

    1288 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since the beginning of the essay the narrator and her father lived in a house “like the Civil War battleground it was” (Kennedy 146). The narrator did not agree with her dad’s political views or understood his love of guns. Contrast to her twin sister, the narrator has a very artistic personality. Her difference in personality caused the narrators frustration towards her father. “Dad and I started bickering in earnest when I was fourteen” (Kennedy 147). The author shows the narrator and her father had started seeing different since she was young. The narrator was frustrated with her father stubbornness and the way she felt she was being treated. “My domain was the cramped, cold space known as the music room” (Kennedy 148). The narrator felt like she was lonely and excluded from her family because of her difference in views. As the narrator’s father tries to get her somewhat involved in his love of cannons and guns, the narrator notices that they have similar interests. “I’ve given this a lot of thought- how to convey the giddiness I felt when the cannon shot off” (Kennedy 150). In addition, the narrator and her father both shared an enjoyment for the loud noise the cannon produced and although they both had opposing political views, they were involved in politics. The author

    Read More

  • Erstwhile

    663 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author clearly shows how his childhood effected his adulthood, making in a living example of what he is writing about allowing the audience to more easily trust what he is writing about. Instead of using factually evidence from other dysfunctional family incidences, the author decides to make it more personal, by using his own life and comparing family ideas of the past to the present.

    Read More

  • A Father's Unfailing Prescence

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    A father can play many roles throughout a child’s life: a caregiver, friend, supporter, coach, protector, provider, companion, and so much more. In many situations, a father takes part in a very active position when it comes to being a positive role model who contributes to the overall well-being of the child. Such is the case for the father in the poem “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden. In this poem, readers are shown the discreet ways in which a father can love his child. On the other hand, there are also many unfortunate situations where the fathers of children are absent, or fail to treat the children with the love and respect that they undoubtedly deserve. In the contrasting poem “Like Riding a Bicycle” by George Bilgere, readers are shown how a son who was mistreated by his drunken father is affected by their past relationship many years later. Although both of these poems have fairly similar themes and literary techniques, they each focus on contradicting situations based on the various roles a father can play in a child’s life.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of To A Daughter Leaving Home By Linda Pastan

    1095 Words  | 3 Pages

    There is a special bond between parents and children, but there is always uncertainty, whether it’s with the parents having to let go or the children, now adults, reminiscing on the times they had with their parents. The poem “To a Daughter Leaving Home” by Linda Pastan is a very emotional poem about what you can assume: a daughter leaving home. Then the poem “Alzheimer 's" by Kelly Cherry is about the poet’s father, a former professional musician who develops the disease. These are only two examples that show the ambivalence between the parents and the children.

    Read More

  • Comparing and Contrasting Theodore Roethke's My Papa's Waltz and Robert Hayden's Those Winter Sundays

    1036 Words  | 3 Pages

    The events of our childhood and interactions with our parents is an outline of our views as parents ourselves. Although Robert Hayden’s relationship with his father differentiates from the relationship of Theodore Roethke and his father, they are both pondering back to their childhood and expressing the events in a poem. “My Papa’s Waltz” and “Those winter Sundays” provide the reader with an image of a childhood event which states how fathers are being viewed by their children. These poems reflect upon the relationship of the father and child when the child was a youth. Both Roethke and Hayden both indicate that their fathers weren’t perfect although they look back admiringly at their fathers’ actions. To most individuals, a father is a man that spends time with and takes care of them which gains him love and respect. An episode of Roethke’s childhood is illustrated in “My Papa’s Waltz”. In “My Papa’s Waltz”, the father comes home showing signs of alcohol and then begins waltzing with his son. Roethke states that the father’s hands are “battered on one knuckle”. The mother was so upset about the dancing that she did nothing other than frown. At the end of the day, the father waltzed the son to bed. “Those Winter Sundays” is based on a regular Sunday morning. The father rises early to wake his family and warm the house. To warm the house, he goes out in the cold and splits wood to start a fire. This is a poem about an older boy looking back to his childhood and regretting that “No one ever thanked him.” In Those Winter Sundays'; by Robert Hayden, the poet also relinquishes on a regular occurrence in his childhood. On Sunday mornings, just as any other morning, his father rises early and puts on his clothes in the cold darkness. He ...

    Read More

  • Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation

    873 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout Assassination Vacation Sarah Vowell attempts to humanize each of the assassins. She gives a detailed perspective on Czolgosz's motivation to kill McKinley and lays out the role of Booth’s so-called patriotic dedication to the Confederacy played in his assassination of Lincoln (i.e. it wasn’t simply hatred or lunacy), but her approach to President Garfield’s killer is different. Vowell’s sarcasm is very present in her discussion of Guiteau, and the manner in which she presents his motives, personality, and backstory is unique from her analyses of Czolgosz or Booth.

    Read More

  • Essay On Marxism In Hamlet

    545 Words  | 2 Pages

    The reader must also recognize what social class the author is in and how that could possible affect the authors portrayal of characters.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Glass Castle And Plath's Daddy

    667 Words  | 2 Pages

    Authors demonstrate similar messages and themes throughout their writing, from poetry to personal memoirs. Similar parental qualities such as parenting styles also show through, as well as whether the author was raised via nature, nurture, or even willpower. Jeannette Walls’s The Glass Castle, and Sylvia Plath’s Daddy are two pieces of literature that demonstrate their similar relationships with their fathers, similar parenting styles, similar character development,

    Read More

  • Parent and Son Relationship in one of Nye, Naomi Shihab´s Poems

    638 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author uses imagery, contrasting diction, tones, and symbols in the poem to show two very different sides of the parent-child relationship. The poem’s theme is that even though parents and teenagers may have their disagreements, there is still an underlying love that binds the family together and helps them bridge their gap that is between them.

    Read More

  • Father and Son in The Road and The Pursuit of Happyness

    1379 Words  | 3 Pages

    The relationship between a father and his son can be articulated as without a doubt the most significant relationship that a man can have throughout the duration of his life. To a further extent the relationship between a father and a son can be more than just a simple companionship. Just like a clown fish and a sea anemone, both father and son will rely on each other in order to survive the struggles of their everyday lives. Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and Gabriele Muccino’s The Pursuit of Happyness both depict a story between a father and son using each other as a means of survival when faced with adversity. When placed in a tough situation father and son must create a symbiotic relationship in order to survive. Upon the duo of father and son can creating a symbiotic relationship, it will result in a mutual dependency on each other. This theme of paternal love is omnipresent given the bond between the two characters.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Sarah Vowell's Shooting Dad

Open Document