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Mother and son relationship Essay
Essay on the mother's perspective on mother to son
Mother and son relationship Essay
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In a typical family, there are parents that expected to hear things when their teenager is rebelling against them: slamming the door, shouting at each other, and protests on what they could do or what they should not do. Their little baby is growing up, testing their wings of adulthood; they are not the small child that wanted their mommy to read a book to them or to kiss their hurts away and most probably, they are thinking that anything that their parents told them are certainly could not be right. The poem talks about a conflict between the author and her son when he was in his adolescence. In the first stanza, a misunderstanding about a math problem turns into a family argument that shows the classic rift between the generation of the parent and the teenager. Despite the misunderstandings between the parent and child, there is a loving bond between them. The imagery, contrasting tones, connotative diction, and symbolism in the poem reflect these two sides of the relationship. From the every begin of the first lines of the poem, the imagery shows that the parents and son are at odds with each other. In the poem, the son is argues that there are 102 gallons of water in his body even though the parents tell him that he has mistaken the words “divide” and “multiply” to come out with a false answer. But, the son insists that he is right about this improbable figure because his teacher said that he was right. The parents argue back by saying do you remember that jug of milk and no way you’re carrying one hundred of those. Even after this the son still doesn’t listen to them. Because of the divide between son and his parents, the son won’t even consider that his parents might be right. The son thinks they are “idiots” without ev... ... middle of paper ... .... With the correct sum, the loud and rushing “giant waterfalls” that characterized the parent-child relationship in the first stanza are now quiet “streams” and “sweet pools”. In addition, the “old metal cup…that nobody could break” is representative of their unbreakable family bond of love. Through moments of chaos and divergence, this loving bond prevails. (Nye, Naomi Shihab) 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. Works Cited Nye, Naomi Shihab. “Our Son Swears He Has 102 Gallons of Water in His Body.” Fuel. Texas: Holt, Reinhart and Winston, 1998. Print.
One theme is two-way relationships that both pull parents and children together whilst pulling them apart. This is illustrated when the mother describes an “old rope, Tightening about my life”. This represents a submerged rope (representing the invisible forces of attraction between the mother and daughter) attached to a boat in a harbour (representing the mother and daughter). It may seem like the boat and harbour are free, but when they try to go their own ways, the rope tightens and pulls them back together. This is not the only theme that reveals the complexities of the parent-child relationship. Another theme is how parents can be torn when their children grow up. The mother seems to be happy that her child is growing up and becoming independent but also seems to resist it. This can be seen from the description of traffic lights. The cars “taking turn” could represent the mother and daughter going on their own paths. The traffic lights alternate between letting and not letting cars through. The lights mirror the sporadic emotions of the mother. It is like they can’t decide to let the girl go on her own independent way in
Stanza three again shows doubtfulness about the mother’s love. We see how the mother locks her child in because she fears the modern world. She sees the world as dangers and especially fears men. Her fear of men is emphasized by the italics used. In the final line of the stanza, the mother puts her son on a plastic pot. This is somewhat symbolic of the consumeristic society i.e. manufactured and cheap.
The poem is written in the father’s point of view; this gives insight of the father’s character and
There is no greater bond then a boy and his father, the significant importance of having a father through your young life can help mold you to who you want to become without having emotional distraught or the fear of being neglected. This poem shows the importance in between the lines of how much love is deeply rooted between these two. In a boys life he must look up to his father as a mentor and his best friend, the father teaches the son as much as he can throughout his experience in life and build a strong relationship along the way. As the boy grows up after learning everything his father has taught him, he can provide help for his father at his old-age if problems were to come up in each others
The main issue in this poem, divorce is a common problem that damages everyone involved in its circumstances. However, in the very first line, the narrator declares, without shame, that he or she was glad when his or her parents got divorced. This strange feeling is not often associated with kids when their parents split; the feeling is usually one of remorse and sadness. This strange feeling is made reasonable as it is indicated that her mother “took it and took it in silence”—a rather dark selection of words which suggest that the father is the source of the family’s difficulties (1-2). The father’s departure is even compared to the departure of one arguably the most hated president in the history of America revealing that the children and mother had no desire for him to stay. Furthermore, the speaker elaborates on the father’s problems after
Clarke displays the “Catrin” poem about parental and child relationship and the bounds between parent and child. The poem begins with poet’s voice to a child and the poem highlighted the difference between mother and child and the common problems parents have with their children. Also the poem is about the loving but sometimes the tense relationship changes between mother and daughter and Catrin has strained relationship with her mother.
While reading the poem the reader can imply that the father provides for his wife and son, but deals with the stress of having to work hard in a bad way. He may do what it takes to make sure his family is stable, but while doing so he is getting drunk and beating his son. For example, in lines 1 and 2, “The whisky on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy” symbolizes how much the father was drinking. He was drinking so much, the scent was too much to take. Lines 7 and 8, “My mother’s countenance, Could not unfrown itself.” This helps the reader understand the mother’s perspective on things. She is unhappy seeing what is going on which is why she is frowning. Although she never says anything it can be implied that because of the fact that the mother never speaks up just shows how scared she could be of her drunk husband. Lines 9 and 10, “The hand that held my wrist Was battered on one knuckle”, with this line the reader is able to see using imagery that the father is a hard worker because as said above his knuckle was battered. The reader can also take this in a different direction by saying that his hand was battered from beating his child as well. Lastly, lines 13 and 14, “You beat time on my head With a palm caked hard by dirt” As well as the quote above this quote shows that the father was beating his child with his dirty hand from all the work the father has
“I wanted to grow up and plough, /To close one eye, stiffen my arm.” (“Follower” 17-18). Seamus Heaney is writing about a son; interested in following his father’s footsteps to become a farmer. The poem depicts the son’s past memories of his father. Fascinated in his father’s work, influenced by his mastery at farming, the son strives to become the same at a young age. “The Writer” on the other hand, portrays a father’s observation of his daughter, struggling to write a story as an author. Both pieces, share a common interaction between parent and child, but the parent-child relationships themselves are fundamentally different. These poems represent a reflection of how the parents respectively tackle the task of raising their child.
“He’d wrestle his Parents” (Nye line 2). For many children they do this all the time. In the poem “Our Son Swears He Has 102 Gallons of Water in His Body,” Naomi Shihab Nye describes this situation between a child and a parent arguing over the solution to a math problem. After analyzing the poem, the reader is the poem not only describes this conflict, but it also stresses the relationship between a child and their parents.
The mother, however, refuses to acknowledge the child as anything but a child is a major conflict in this poem. Because she refers to her as ?child? and calls her ?baby,? it is clear that the mother does not take the child?s pleas seriously. The mother is certain that she kn...
As children, we all view our relationship with our parents as something sacred. If suddenly that relationship began to fade little by little one would feel a great amount of sorrow. Poet, Robert Hayden, captured this complicated child and parent relationship in his free verse poem, “Those Winter Sundays.” In “Those Winter Sundays”, Hayden uses multiple literary devices and rhetorical methods to illustrate his feelings towards a tricky father and child relationship.
Throughout the beginning lines of the poem, the author's use of diction and punctuation help to develop a frustrating relationship between the main characters. In line 2 the speaker says “Divide becomes multiply so he’d wrestle his parents who defy what he insists.” By using the word “wrestle” one can infer the teen is very aggressive and determined to assert his ideas on his parents. This same concept is presented when the son says “I did the problem and my teacher said I was right!” To state the phrase “I did the problem” shows that the teen was expressing he completed the problem and didn’t ask for help. In accordance with the word
The different ideas presented in poem are separated by periods rather than stanzas. Brooks describes the child as being “ in the apartment overheated” and it appears to be a direct reference to her childhood in which her parents controlled every activity they did and who they talked to. She is saying “overheated” as in they were constantly smothered by their parental supervision and were never given the opportunity to explore the world and the wonders of childhood. The child is described as having “ prim and elderly looks” because the child hasn’t been able to explore nature and be excited by their curiosities. They are forced to live a life with very little excitement and were accustomed to having conversations about the law and not of toys. They had to be mature enough to have this conversations which means that they were studying and reading often. The tone in this portion of the poem is grim and sad. It is apparent that this is not the favored way for a child to
Simon Armitage uses metaphors to help describe this mother and son relationship. The metaphors describe the relationship becoming distant and that the mother is not ready to let her son go. An example of a metaphor in this poem is “unreeling years between us.” The mother and son were measuring the
It is in the human nature that parental figures care for their children with an indescribable amount of love. Although in many cases, children are often unaware of the love presented to them. In “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden, the poet’s simple and specific diction with repetitive syntax reveal his regretfulness about the distant relationship he shared with his father, showing he has come to realization too late.