Father-Son Relations and the Cycle and Rhythms of Life - Literature review Example

February 25, Father-Son Relations and the Cycle and Rhythms of Life Fathers evoke various feelings for their sons- sometimes love, sometimes fear, though some feel an odd mixture of both. Two poems describe father-son relationships through memories of past interactions. Simon J. Ortiz, a Native American, depicts a nostalgic tone, as he shares the memory of planting together with his father in “My Fathers Song.” Theodore Roethke, son of German immigrants, wrote a poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” that has a fearful tone for his father, although the intensity of his love is part of the poem’s attitude. These poems are rich in cultural symbols that assert how much their fathers and culture shaped their identity. Their content shows different kinds of father-son relationships, though both are filled with intense bonds of love, while their forms and symbolism suggest the cycle and rhythm of life that can be distinct to every father and cultural group. Ortiz and Roethke both express intense devotions to their father, which is typical of the adoration that boys feel for their fathers, the main plot of the poems and evident in the diction that speak of their livelihoods. Ortiz remembers his father and misses him terribly. The plot of the poem talks about how he misses his father, “His voice, the slight catch,/the depth from his thin chest” (Ortiz 3-4). He misses him enough that his senses are all awakened, as if he can hear, see, and feel his father. Having the kind of memory that becomes almost physically real signifies a son’s intense devotion to his father. Furthermore, Ortiz uses diction that has rich imagery that is typical of Native American language. The “tremble of emotion” (5) and his song for his son are elements of Native American identity, where oral histories are part of everyday activities shared through songs and stories. The boy in Roethke’s poem also expresses his strong love for his father. He calls him “Papa,” a term of endearment, and he does not mind that he comes home drunk and dances the waltz with him, for he still “hung on” (Roethke 3) and clung to his shirt, as his Papa waltzed him roughly to bed (Roethke 16). It does not matter if Papa’s ritual is too rough for the boy; he enjoys it anyway and takes pleasure in being the center of his father’s attention. Lisa Jadwin underlines that the boy must be terrified of his father’s smell, actions, and appearance, but it does not matter. She interprets the plot of poem as one that “captures some of the fundamental joy a child experiences when playing with a parent and receiving that parents undivided attention” (Jadwin 1). The joy that the boy feels for his father’s “undivided attention” is greater than his fear. Moreover, the plot shows the diction of a working-class family and the difference between the boy and his father. The “palm caked hard by dirt” is a sign of a working-man’s life (Roethke 14). Roethke is known to not follow the working-class life of his father by being a writer, so the poem matches his real life, how he must have feared his drunken father who has a different livelihood from him (Jadwin 1). The poem shows the attitudes of fear and love, both intense emotions for his father. These two boys from Ortiz’s and Roethke’s poems are reliving bonding moments with their fathers, though they share somewhat different attitudes toward them. Apart from the plot that shows a son’s love for his father, the poems are similar in their use of alliteration to show the impact of a father in imparting cultural values to their children. Ortiz uses alliteration that emphasizes his connection to his father. The words “son” and “song” are alliterations with internal rhymes. Since the title says that the poem is about his father’s song, and “song” blends with son too, which suggests how the song or identity of the father influences the identity of his son. The “soft” and “sand” words suggest the power of their environment in forming identities. The sand is related to planting, and planting is both an economic and cultural process for Ortiz. Leon Lewis describes Ortiz’s poetry where Ortiz sees his role in the “preservation and presentation of his cultural heritage” (1). Culture is central to “My Fathers Song.” As Native Americans, planting is part of their way of life. The softness of the sand indicates the tender feelings that both father and son have for the planting that does not only give them food, but also asserts their cultural connection to their Native American traditions. Roethke also shows how much his father imparted cultural values to him as a child. Waltz is something that became popular with immigrants because of its initial “scandalous” image, something that only the “Other” or the marginalized people danced (Jadwin 1). The little boy’s father seems to dance the waltz frequently when he is drunk, for he comes with the smell of “whiskey” (1). His drunkenness may trigger cultural memories of his youth, when gayness and innocence were alive. Waltz is a cultural dance that may have important emotional functions for the father. By dancing it with his son, he tries to impart these values of freedom and happiness that he once enjoyed in his youth. These fathers are sharing cultural values that help their children shape their identities. Aside from alliteration, these poems have end rhymes, although Roethke uses traditional rhyming couplets, where both speakers express the role of setting and rituals to their functions as fathers. Ortiz does not have as many end rhymes as Roethke, although he uses the end rhymes of “hand” and “sand” (11-12) and “softness” and “mice” (24-25). “Hand” and “sand” say something about the setting of the poem, which differs from Roethke’s. Ortiz remembers the planting season with his father, which means they are in the farm field. It is interesting how he uses the term “sand” instead of soil. “Sand” can refer to the sands of time. Also, the “hand” takes care of the “sand,” in the same way that the “hand” takes care of his family, an important parental function, especially for traditional patriarchs. In addition, “softness” rhymes with “mice,” which signifies an important connection with Nature. Ortiz’s father sees that one of his roles is not only to teach his son to make his own living through planting, but to also see the importance of respecting Nature as part of one’s humanity. Roethke uses traditional rhyming couplets to indicate the reality of a working father’s functions in his family. Because “breath” rhymes with “death” (1, 3), it signifies how his father must have felt; that he has to work hard for the rest of his life. His life is a daily challenge of working until one is dead. Another end rhyme is the word “dizzy” and “easy” (2, 4). The son does not fully understand why his father has to drink so much. He is “dizzy,” physically and emotionally from his father’s drunken rituals. Maybe for him, he thinks it should be easy for his father to not drink, and just come home sober, but his father knows better. Drinking and waltzing may be his escape from his dreary life of drudgery. These rhymes underscore the functions of fathers in peasant or working-class family life. While using end rhymes, these poems also use internal rhymes to symbolize different family patterns that come from how fathers see themselves as individuals, which have varying impacts on the individuality of their children. Internal rhyme is present in Ortiz’s first line: “Wanting to say things” (1). “Wanting” has internal rhyme with “things,” where it suggests irony that things are not the main essence of the poem, but the “wanting” for human connection, specifically, a strong father-son bond. Ortiz’s father shows his love for planting. The internal rhymes of “furrow” and “burrow” (14, 16) underscore the love for the land. As it is connected to the “soft moist sand” (17) and the softness of mice (24), planting becomes a livelihood to be proud of because of its connection to Nature. The father has pride for his culture that boasts of an intimate relationship with Nature. Because of this example, the son also sees himself as a child of Nature. The last lines express the feeling of holding Nature up close as he feels the “very softness/of cool and warm sand and tiny alive mice/and my father saying things” (24-26). He seems to no longer hear his father as he touches the mice and sand; they are alive, and so are the memories of his father and their culture. Roethke uses internal rhyme with “hand” and “held” (9). The rhyming emphasizes the strong physical grip of the father to his son. It suggests that despite the rough nature of the father because he wants to be seen as a strong authority in the house, he loves his son dearly in ways he cannot always tenderly express. The impact is a son who both fears and adores him for his strength and callousness. These internal rhymes symbolize the fathers’ individualities and how their sons reacted to it. Despite these similarities, these poems also have differences in rhymes, where “My Fathers Song” does not have any standard rhyme or lineation, while “My Papas Waltz” has an iambic pentameter, and these forms mix with symbolism to depict the tone and attitude of the speakers toward their fathers. “My Fathers Song” focuses on rich imagery which appeals to different senses using a conversational storytelling flow that is free verse. The free verse includes the symbols of planting and the mice, which all suggest the cycle of life. Planting is done regularly, while the young mice signify new life. They depict the lessons on life’s stages that the father wants to teach his son. In addition, as the father hands over the mice to his son, it is a symbol of passing down traditions. “My Papas Waltz” has an iambic trimeter, a meter which follows “the rhythm of both ordinary English speech and of the waltz (a three-beat dance)” (Jadwin 1). The poem is like the dance itself, which is awkward in its “stop-and-start rhythm” through having punctuations at the end of every second and fourth line, which show the irony of a dance “which metaphorically suggests two people joyfully moving in harmony with one another, reveals painful disharmonies” (Jadwin 1). The situational irony is that the dance is not as coordinated as it should be with the romping until pans fell (5-6), and being hurt through battered knuckles (10) and a “right ear that scraped a buckle” (12). The violent rhythm of the dance says something about the conflict between father and son who have different ideas of livelihood and success. Ronald R. Janssen agrees that the poem’s form follow the patterns of disjointed waltz that stands for “the pattern of family life repeating itself in a sequence of desperate hope that some fun can be had and the real fear of violence and disruption” (44). The form of “My Papas Waltz” shows waltz as a symbol for the dance of life that has “fear” and “joy” in it, according to Bobby Fong (78). The young boy is terrified of his father, but he loves him passionately still. Roethke appreciates the hard work of his father, but is terrified of being himself, the writer self, who must look vulnerable to a working-class man. With these hopes and apprehensions, these forms tell the stories of rhythm and cycles of life that reflect in father-son relationships. The father’s song of life is nostalgic and loving for Ortiz, while it is a loving and fearful waltz rhythm for Roethke. The differences in their relationships with their fathers may be brought about by their different cultures and daily experiences. Nevertheless, being both part of the marginalized sector, these poems about their father relate to their cultures too. Their ethnic identities are heritages of their father, who imparted cultural values and practices in different ways. However complexly different they may see their fathers, the plot is the same- a passionate need for bonding with fathers who play critical roles in how sons see themselves and define their identities and destinies. Works Cited Fong, Bobby. “Roethkes ‘My Papas Waltz.” College Literature 17.1 (1990): 78-81. Print. Jadwin, Lisa. “Literary Contexts in Poetry: Theodore Roethkes ‘My Papas Waltz.’” Understanding Literature: Literary Contexts in Poetry & Short Stories (2007): 1. Print. Janssen, Ronald R. “Roethkes ‘My Papas Waltz.’” Explicator 44.2 (1986): 43-44. Print. Lewis, Leon. “Simon J. Ortiz.” Critical Survey of Poetry, 2nd ed. (2002): 1-4. Print. Ortiz, Simon J. “My Fathers Song.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Eds. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter, and Kelly J. Mays. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 857. Print. Roethke, Theodore. “My Papa’s Waltz.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Eds. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter, and Kelly J. Mays. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 923. Print. Read More