Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice

Within this story, the author incorporated many literary elements which i enjoyed, including metaphors to describe situations, description of nature to describe characters feelings, and many more. Throughout this story, i felt the main character continuously pointed out the negative aspects of his father, while still defending him in the face of others. In the story, it states "We forgive any sacrifice by our parents, so long as it is not made in our name." To me this represented the idea that no matter what your parents may do, you will always have some positive feelings for them because of the blood relationship you share.

Towards the beginning of the story, as the father arrives, the author describes the rain. In my opinion, rain usually being bad and unwanted, represents the feelings of the main character as he does not want his father to be there. A metaphor i enjoyed when describing the rain stated "a thluck thluck of a typewriter's keys punching out the letters", as it described both the weather and the hobby of the main character at the same time. With the fathers arrival, the mood between the two characters is somewhat awkward and forced. As described by the main character, "the fields are glass...like a shape in smoke, the poem blurred." To me this means that the physical presence of the father may be much difference than his mental feelings, as the son is unaware of the fathers new personality and thoughts.

After getting his father acquanted with his apartment, the son goes on to say to himself, "the truth was, he'd come at the worst possible time." I feel this quote shows the poor relationship the two characters have with one another. The father had been gone for three years, and in most cases a son would be ecstatic to see him regardless of the obligations he had at home. This may give rise to the father mentally and physically abusing his son, later discussed between the son and his girlfriend. The poor relationship between the son and father is also represented as the son tells his girlfriend his father does not know about her. It shows the the communication between the two is very generic, and is not on a very deep or hearfelt level.

The three year seperation between the two proves to be very detrimental to their relationship. In the story, it states "i could no longer read his smile. He had perfected it during our seperation." In other words, as previously discussed, the son did not know his fathers feelings, new personality, likes, and dislikes. Rather than being able to anticpate his fathers next move, each one now came as a suprise.

In this story, there are many instances that show the son and writer to be reliant on others for advice rather than following his own feelings. In other words, he does as he is told rather than doing what he thinks is right. To me, this was first realized as the son is searching on what to write his final paper on. He talks to multiple people, getting their opinions on literature and present and past politics, rather than writing about what he feels. Also, the son although now an adult listens to each and every one of his fathers commands, doing exactly what he says regardless if he thinks its right or not.