My Papa’s Waltz

The relationship between the father and son in the poem
“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke
Johan Oh

In the poem, “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, readers can find out
the love between the father and son. The father works hard for his family. After he
comes home, he dances with his son. Their dance is more like a running and
jumping, so the “pans slid from the kitchen shelf”. Their dance ends when the
father takes his son to his bed. The father loves his son very much, so he wants
dance with his son who is not tall enough to be a perfect partner. And the father
even doesn’t wash his hands because he rushes to play with his son. It is not just a
dance for them but also a play and a quality time for the father and son. The father
gives an unforgettable memory to his son. The son still remembers all the small
details about the scene, “the whiskey on the father’s breath”, his father’s “palm
cake hard by dirt”, and even the feeling when his “right ear scraps a buckle”. It is
because he enjoyed the moment with his father. Most people have some similar
memories about their father such as the father’s smell, the sound of his foot steps
near the door, a box of doughnuts on his hands, and so on. This poem reminds
readers of moments they had in the past with their father which is always kept
safely in their minds.

Golden Retrievals by Mark Doty

Golden Retrievals (Mark Doty)

Fetch Balls and sticks capture my attention

Seconds at a time. Catch? I don’t think so.

Bunny, tumbling leaf, a squirrel who’s -oh

joy-actually scared. Sniff the wind, then

 

I’m off again; muck, pond, residue

of any thrillingly dead thing. And you?

Either you’re sunk in the past, half our walk,

thinking of what you can never bring back,

 

or else you’re off in some fog concerning

— tomorrow, is that what you call it? My work;

to unsnare time’s warp(and woof!), retrieving,

my haze-headed friend, you. This shining bark,

 

a Zen master’s bronzy gong, calls you here,

entirely, now; bow-wow, bow-wow, bow-wow.

Who is the speaker of the poem, and who, presumably, is the narrator addressing? What “lesson” is the speaker trying to teach this person?

The speaker from the poem, “Golden Retrievals” by Mark Doty, is a dog who likes to play and walk with his master. The dog finds out that his master is thinking and worrying about something which was happened in the past and something that will happen in the future. In the poem, the dog seems wiser than his master because he reads his master’s mind, and he knows that his master is “thinking of what he can never bring back.” The dog even knows his work, the purpose of his existence, which is to retrieve his master from the worrying mind cell. The dog barks to wake up  his master who is distracted by his worries about the past and the future, and the dog’s bark shine  like “a Zen master’s bronzy gong”. The lesson from this poem’s speaker is pretty simple. Don’t worry about things in the past and things in the future. There is nothing we can do about the things in the past, and there is no benefit to worrying about things in the future. The dog wants to “call his master here, entirely”. The dog wants his master to be with him entirely, no worries and no concerns. Now readers can be reminded of the wake up call from “a Zen master’s bronzy gong “when they hear their dog’s bark.

Resolves it or live with it (Forty-Five a Month, by R.K. Narayan)

In the short story, “Forty-Five a Month” by R.K. Narayan, he describes a father who struggles to support his family and also tries to find time for his daughter. The father, Venket, spends most of his time at work and only gets forty rupees a month for his hard work. When his daughter, Shante, asks for taking her to the movie, he feels unhappy and sorry for her because he thinks Shante doesn’t  have “any of the amenities and the simple pleasures of life”(4). So he decides to take Shante to the movie no matter what will happen at work. However, when his manager mentions on increment to his wage, he stays at work. He sacrifices the quality time with his daughter for the raise. Venket is a kind of person who lives with problems because he is insecure and not brave enough to move on.

Venket has put up with long work hours and low wages to support his family for a long time. This is not a problem for only today or yesterday. He has stayed with same problem for many years for a small wage, forty rupees a month, “for this petty forty rupees on which you have kept me for years and years.”(6)  When Shante waits for her father at the gate, she even says “I don’t like these people in the office. They are bad people.”(3)  She feels this way because her father always works after office hours. He has felt that he is not treated the right way and is sorry for his daughter. However, he has lived with the problem for many years because he is not brave enough to solve his problem. He can’t quit his job because he hasn’t an alternative choice for making money.  He wants to appeal to the manager for the low wage and the unfair treatment. However, he has to find other way to support his family. “If the manager couldn’t, it would be more honourable to die of starvation.”(6) He knows that he and his family will starve to death if he quit. “If I and my family perish of starvation, may our ghosts come and haunt you all your life-“(6) It seems impossible for him to find another job or start his own business. That’s why he endures long work hours and low wage. He lives with his problem.

The manager is smart enough to read Venket’s mind and raises his wage in the last minutes. Venket decides to quit the job and write a resignation letter but his astute manager gives the increment. If Venket doesn’t give the resignation letter to the manager, he will never give Venket an increment. There is no way for Venket to win the game with the manager. He sees his staffs’ problems and takes advantage of their weakness. As long as Venket stays with his problem, he will be treated in same way by the canny manager.

Venket gives up the time for family, especially his daughter. He is not happy for his long work hours and the way he is treated at work. However, he is not brave

enough to quit his job and find another one. He is a kind of person who lives with own problem and no one can blame him for it, because this is not an issue only for Venket. Many parents in the world have the same problem. Most of time, parents want to give the all the amenities to their children and also have quality times with their children. However, they have to sacrifice one to give another to their children,   because most parents have limited time and money for their children.