My box represents the poem “The Man Who Found His Son Was a Thief” written by Raymond Souster and my interpretation as well as personal relations to this poem. I have expressed my personal relation through different objects and decorations I put inside and outside of my box. Firstly, I have put a bicycle model in my box to compare it to the relationship with my dad and me. The wheels and pedals of the bicycle represent my dad while I am sitting on the bicycle and is responsible for steering. My dad would keep pedaling regardless of the situation just like wheels on a bike they keep spinning and pushing the bike forward until it pops. I am in charge of steering into any direction. No matter which direction I steer my dad would still be there …show more content…
The mask symbolizes the son’s negative side in the poem. Since the mask is colorful, it makes the father think that the son would never steal, a mask is also involved within my relationship with my dad as I sometimes shadow my true personality in front of my dad. However, my father and the father in the poem is just protecting a mask which he does not know is put on. Thirdly, I put a black box, this is a symbol for lies and secrets with darkness trying not to be found. A black box of secrets and lies would always be in a father and son relationship and always take up some space in the relationship. This specifically relates to the lines 1-2 in the 5th stanza “It must be like this. It could hardly be otherwise.” As the box of lies and negativity wrapped with secrets could not be ignored, this “box” is also found in the relationship between my father and myself. Fourthly, I put a test paper in the black box of lies and secrets. This test paper is marked at “0” and I changed it to “100”. This reflects on the past where I have disappointed my dad, I have once forgotten to study for a test and during the test, I didn’t write anything. When I got the test paper back, I got a
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
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
His outside actions of touching the wall and looking at all the names are causing him to react internally. He is remembering the past and is attempting to suppress the emotions that are rising within him. The first two lines of the poem set the mood of fear and gloom which is constant throughout the remainder of the poem. The word choice of "black" to describe the speaker's face can convey several messages (502). The most obvious meaning ... ...
...ttachment or emotion. Again, Heaney repeats the use of a discourse marker, to highlight how vividly he remembers the terrible time “Next morning, I went up into the room”. In contrast to the rest of the poem, Heaney finally writes more personally, beginning with the personal pronoun “I”. He describes his memory with an atmosphere that is soft and peaceful “Snowdrops and Candles soothed the bedside” as opposed to the harsh and angry adjectives previously used such as “stanched” and “crying”. With this, Heaney is becoming more and more intimate with his time alone with his brother’s body, and can finally get peace of mind about the death, but still finding the inevitable sadness one feels with the loss of a loved one “A four foot box, a foot for every year”, indirectly telling the reader how young his brother was, and describing that how unfortunate the death was.
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
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 left my school books inside the bottom of my desk, just as all the students had done in my class. My father was home on vacation that particular day and asked me where my books were. I replied that they were in my desk at school. That answer led to a ten minute lecture on how I was to never leave my books at school ever again. He told me that I would never succeed if I did not take schooling seriously. That was the only motivational speech I received while I was in school. That conversation affects me to this day. I bring all the books I am required to buy at the beginning of each term to my classes. I purchase my books the moment I find out what books I need for that quarter. I have always strived to excel in all the courses I take because of that conversation. My father intervening made me angry at the time; however, over time it made me reevaluate my approach to school. Yes, it was difficult to carry all those books home every day after school, especially in high school, but that was my
The grandchild “proudly” shows the grandmother the picture hoping to change the negative aura surrounding them. “With crayons the child draws a rigid house and a winding pathway.” (924) As already stated, “house” represents the grandmother. The winding pathway shows a new path opening up in her life. A look into who may be behind this emotional roller coaster is now featured. “Then the child puts in a man with buttons like tears…” (924) Tears to the child have an entirely different meaning than to the grandmother. The grandchild sees happiness in tears, showing that you can find something positive in anything that seems to be upsetting. The man symbolizes the loss the grandmother is feeling. The grandchild drew this picture to cheer up the grandmother. It is at the end of the pome do we find out what tears mean to the grandmother. The grandmother does not acknowledge the drawing and tries to hide her true feelings. While she is doing this, “secretly…the little moons fall down like tears from between the pages of the almanac into the flower bed the child carefully placed in the front of the house.” (924) The grandmother is coming to the realization that dwelling on the past brings will not make her loss return. Regardless of how much of an impact this loss had on her, pain is part of the grieving process. Only though pain
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.
My parents applauded my academic success, but hardly knew the price I paid for it. I vividly remember one night when my mother couldn't fall asleep. She kept going to bed and getting up again. Every -, time I heard her get up, I'd turn off my light so she wouldn't catch me still awake. By 5 o'clock that morning, I was so sleepy that I didn't hear her footsteps as she shuffled down the hallway. When she saw the light under my door, she came in and demanded to know why I wasn't sleeping.
The speaker’s personal emotions emphasizes the poem’s theme since although his father is no longer with him in this world, the memory of his father will always live in his heart. Throughout the poem, Lee uses the sky, underground, and the heart to symbolize imagination, reality, and memory—emphasizing the poem’s theme of the remembrance of a loved one. Lee also uses repetition to convey the meaning of Little Father. The speaker repeatedly mentions “I buried my father…Since then…” This repetition displays the similarity in concepts, however the contrast in ideas. The first stanza focuses on the spiritual location of the speaker’s father, the second stanza focuses on the physical location of the father, and the third stanza focuses on the mental location of the speaker’s father. This allows the reader to understand and identify the shift in ideas between each stanza, and to connect these different ideas together—leading to the message of despite where the loved one is (spiritually or physically), they’ll always be in your heart. The usage of word choice also enables the reader to read in first person—the voice of the speaker. Reading in the voice of the speaker allows the reader to see in the perspective of the speaker and to connect with the speaker—understand
My father was always there for me, whether I wanted him to be or not. Most of the time, as an adolescent trying to claim my independence, I saw this as a problem. Looking back I now realize it was a problem every child needs, having a loving father. As hard as I tried to fight it, my dad instilled in me the good values and work ethic to be an honest and responsible member of society. He taught me how to be a good husband. He taught me how to be a good father. He taught me how to be a man. It has been 18 years since my father’s death, and I am still learning from the memories I have of him.
I could have been a super senior or a drop out altogether. I could have been a father struggling with finances. I could have been a drug addict and not be writing this three page essay that ruins weekends, and for that I am thankful that my dad didn’t let things slide that weren’t right. I am kind of happy he threatened me with military school when I was in middle school, I was a handful, I would get kicked out of class constantly but I stayed in school, years later I would be walking down my high school football stadium class of 2016 for my graduation, both my parents stressed it that it was the utmost importance to graduate, both my mother and father pushed me to get good enough grades to graduate. My dad would try to teach me math, I hated math so much it was my least favorite subject, I was more of a history type of guy. He would try his best to help me in school, but i just needed the motivation to get me started, I personally didn’t think i would graduate high school, he gave me the courage to do so, it was a requirement to him, I see some kids drop out or go to adult school to get a G.E.D but having a high school degree was better, I still got to enjoy my years as a teen, having fun with friends, hanging out, I just had to follow certain guidelines to not get me into trouble. In highschool I was never a bad kid though, it was in middle school I was a little shit who thought i runned things but no, my dad was the big boss. The most i probably got in trouble was when I came home really late around 12:00 AM with my girlfriend, but he wasn’t mad at the fact I was out with her very late, it was the fact that I didn’t let him know where I was, he started to loosen his grip about me going out slowly over my four years in highschool, I just needed to tell him I was getting home late, and there shouldn’t be a problem what so ever. Even when I go party my dad wants me to be safe, I tell him who I go with and