Family
The institution of family is something that can never be emphasized enough. Family is the people that make you who you are. They are your blood. Your family is the people that you care most about, but at the same time because you are so comfortable being around them, they are the people whom you sometimes take your anger out on. On the other hand, sometimes members of your family aren’t ever around, and they are almost complete strangers. The short stories we’ve read, even though they are fiction, cover many aspects of family that are very prevalent in today’s’ society.
The poem, “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke describes a father and son relationship in a very interesting manner. Roethke describes a drunken father carrying his son to bed as a waltz. They “romped until the pans slid from the kitchen shelf”. But, even though the father stumbled all over the place the son, “hung on like death” because he loves his father. Because even though Roethke tries to turn the reader against the father, there are still definite signs of the classic bond between father and son. Here is this father who works with his hands, and works very hard. He decides to stop by the bar for a couple of drinks before coming home late that night to find his son waiting for him. So they “waltz” around a little bit until the father takes him off to bed. And still, the son doesn’t want to leave his father. Roethke’s interpretation of the father and son is almost like they are just fooling around. The son looks up to his father just like most children do, and is excited to see his father. The tie that bonds the father and his son is the love they have for each other.
Another story about a father and son relationship is the short story, “Reunion” by John Cheever. Except this story doesn’t describe the classic father and son bond. Instead, it describes a father and son relationship that is more grim. Cheever introduces Charlie, the main...
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