What major internal and external conflicts does the protagonist face - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... s to intervene to help and guide her (symbolically he wants to guide her throughout her life) and at the same time realization dawns on upon him that she has to charter her own course in life. She is the articulator of her destiny. Richard Wilbur compares the writing process to a ship at sail on a body of water by using the rhetorical device of diction. His diction is the pointer to the imagery of a ship to imply that his daughter’s story writing is more than an activity of language: that exercise is like a journey at sea; and his house, the ship and he watching with concern the process of her creating the charter for her life.
The protagonist, as the father, wants to give his best to his daughter, but he aware of his limitations. “My daughter is writing a story,” (l.3) he asserts, and the profound turmoil in his inner world can be gauged by his concern that his daughter is creating a path for herself. The time of trials and tribulations in life has arrived in her life and the father is worried whether she will be able to tackle them effectively. He wants to be with her at every step, offer his helping hand, but he realizes he cannot do that. He chooses the next option, to present before her his own life experiences so that she can pick up some hard lessons from it. The speaker writes: “It is always a matter, my darling, / Of life or death, as I had forgotten.”(l, 31-32) Mapping out one’s own life is the toughest option for an individual. He is happy that he has taught her to be an independent thinker, but he desires to make her stronger mentally and infuse confidence in her to face life of her own. Wilbur has used writing as a discipline to challenge life. The lesson ingrained in the poem, and the message that he wants to give to is daughter is, as the wise saying goes, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” The noise of the keyboard relates to the process of struggle the daughter is undergoing and he watches that activity with concern and ...Download file to see next pagesRead More