We did not fear the father really touched me. Out of all the poems we read in this
section I think this was the most real and true to the life of a man in the
early 1900's. I know it wasn't written that far long ago, but it gives the
feeling of this time to me. A man back then provided for his family and worked
all day everyday if that is what it took to feed and clothe his family. In this
poem the father works as a barber six days a week in order to pay for the
extras in their lives such as "licorice, filled the offering plate, and
paid for the keeper who clipped our grape vines under his own pageant." I
think it is important also to see that he took care of the people that worked
for him and made sure that he was able to pay them by working other jobs. A
farm job is difficult to do all on your own or even with the entire
family helping it can be hard. When The father has help he made sure they knew
they were appreciated.
The father also had turned their home into a three-story tenement in order to make or save money and would have had to have been available to his renters at any time day or night if there was a problem. It mentions that the house was over a hundred years old before they began living there so there was probably a lot of work that would have needed to be done, yet he kept it in good condition for his family and renters. This is a lot of responsibility already and then the poem goes on to describe a third job of working nights in a factory. It was loud and probably a little dangerous "shaping molten metal into ball bearings". It certainly seemed dangerous to the son and narrator as he talks about the noise and fear they felt in those eight hours he was gone. Throughout this poem he is doing all of these jobs but he is also being a father and a provider. He is strong and continues day after day to do what is expected of him as all four positions demand it. He was always strong and never complained about his work he just continued on day after day to make sure that everything was taken care of. The children were never scared for him because he stood strong and brave and faced each day with pride and his head up. but it is not until they see their father stooped and tired and in the twilight of his life and losing his strength and youth they they begin to get scared of there father himself. As I look over the poem again I realize that they probably see what is expected of them in their father and when he begins to get older and weaker, they begin to understand that this is what is going to happen to them and they begin to fear not only their father but what their father symbolized. Life goes on and the one day it does not.
The father also had turned their home into a three-story tenement in order to make or save money and would have had to have been available to his renters at any time day or night if there was a problem. It mentions that the house was over a hundred years old before they began living there so there was probably a lot of work that would have needed to be done, yet he kept it in good condition for his family and renters. This is a lot of responsibility already and then the poem goes on to describe a third job of working nights in a factory. It was loud and probably a little dangerous "shaping molten metal into ball bearings". It certainly seemed dangerous to the son and narrator as he talks about the noise and fear they felt in those eight hours he was gone. Throughout this poem he is doing all of these jobs but he is also being a father and a provider. He is strong and continues day after day to do what is expected of him as all four positions demand it. He was always strong and never complained about his work he just continued on day after day to make sure that everything was taken care of. The children were never scared for him because he stood strong and brave and faced each day with pride and his head up. but it is not until they see their father stooped and tired and in the twilight of his life and losing his strength and youth they they begin to get scared of there father himself. As I look over the poem again I realize that they probably see what is expected of them in their father and when he begins to get older and weaker, they begin to understand that this is what is going to happen to them and they begin to fear not only their father but what their father symbolized. Life goes on and the one day it does not.
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