My Papa's Waltz Meaning
In the story My Papa’s Waltz, the narrator has described the relationship with the father without actually saying it. The meaning of the story is hidden within the words that is about an abusive father. Without any negative signs of abuse that is not stated in the words, but the meaning is all about abuse. The narrator disguised the meaning by going with music and having a rhyme poem. Abuse was never stated to have a more meaning why the narrator never thought it was abuse. The mother has nothing but a “countenance” expression to the actions the father is doing to his child. It can show that the narrator didn’t know anything better but to love. Although the poem may sound simple and easy to understand, My Papa’s Waltz is really a complex story …show more content…
There is a cycle of the negative actions that cause his father to get drunk, however, his father feelings has been expressed by actions not words. For example, the says “you beat time on my head” meaning the how rough the father has been hitting him (Roethke 968). The narrator makes it same to make it fit with the meter of the music to be disguised. Dancing of the music which seems to be more of a beating to the narrator that says “at every step you missed/ my right ear scraped a buckle” (Roethke 969). As he is dancing with the narrator the father would hit him if he messes up. His father hits the narrator with a belt to his ear without the father actually knowing because his is drunk. The abusive father is doing all of this actions without actually knowing, but still letting go of his fraustion from his work towards his son. The narrator does not state any abusive towards his relationship with his father making it parental love and abusive relationship. This would first look like a dance with his father, however; My Papa’s Waltz is really a unbreakable relationship with his parent that makes the story more of dance to hide the actually meaning to show both sides of the story. The boy interrupts what it seems what is happens which is a dance, but in reality it is a beaten that he can’t
Why Does Theodore Roethke Use Ambiguous Language
119 Words | 1 PagesIn “My Papa’s Waltz,” poet Theodore Roethke uses sensory details and ambiguous language to persuade both the boy and the reader that the boy still loves his father, despite him being an alcoholic. On the third sentence of the first stanza, Roethke uses ambiguous language by stating: “But I hung on like death. Such waltzing was not easy.” Although this plainly means that the boy was holding onto his father without ease, it can be interpreted in another way; the boy still loves his father, even though it is hard to love him with his alcoholism at times, and the boy still loves his father very much. The boy is reflecting on this idea while waltzing with his
My Papa's Waltz Analysis
1559 Words | 7 PagesChiu Ching 3U (8) My Papa’s Waltz Questions 1. Comment on the simile in the first stanza. (3 marks) The simile used in the first stanza is “I hung on like death”(3). The next line, “Such waltzing was not easy”(4) suggests that the father and son’s boisterous, wild “romping”(5) around was difficult for the child, and he had to hang on tightly because the father was romping around drunkenly and did not hold onto him well.
Summary Of Under The Influence By Scott Sanders
680 Words | 3 PagesSanders explains how his father compulsively “drank” as a means of telling how it initially led to the end of him (182).He acknowledges how his father’s daily drinking finally succeeded by catching up to him with death and drinking becoming a thing of the past. Sanders goes on to explain the various siting’s of his father wayward drinking habits. On a daily basis Sanders would “slip into the garage.. to see [His] father tipping back the flat green bottles of wine, the brown cylinders of whiskey, the cans of beer disguised in paper bags” (182). Sanders switches from explanation into narration as he reveals his true feelings from within his horrific boundaries of his father. He narrates on a routine childhood memory of his dad coming home from work drunk and sparking a quarrel with his wife and how he would find cover and “curl fearfully… listening” (182).
Domestic Violence In My Papa Waltz
475 Words | 2 PagesThe poem My Papa Waltz by the title sounds like it could be sweet and loving. The poem is actually very dark in my opinion. In the poem the father is drunk, stumbling and hurting the boy. Even though they could just be having a good time, running around, and the father could also be trying to teach the boy to grow up, I believe that the poem is about a boy being abused by his father. Because he also states that the father is so drunk that his breath could get a small boy drunk.
Analysis Of Under The Influence By Scott Russell Sanders
687 Words | 3 PagesIn a similar way, he introduces the other side of his father, the drunkard. Sanders holds that, his father transforms into “a stranger, who is as fearful as any graveyard lunatic” (Sanders 243). Sanders hints on how his father’s drunken habit transformed the environment around his family. He scribes on how a cloud of fear formed among his family members in instances where their father came home drunk.
My Papa's Waltz Literary Devices
199 Words | 1 PagesIn “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, the author uses rhyming couplets and imagery to demonstrate that unconditional love is the effort you put in for someone no matter the circumstances. Roethke displayed this idea by utilizing imagery to illustrate the working life of the father in the line, “With a palm caked hard by dirt / Then waltzed me off to bed” (Roethke), this line articulates how the father works hard for the family during the day; so much to the point of his hands bwing caked with dirt with dirt, but still comes home and shows up for his son by dancing with him, and still putting in effort even after his tireless workday. Furthermore, Roethke’s poem also displays topics of relationships and family throughout the poem; these
My Papa's Waltz And Those Winter Sundays Analysis
871 Words | 4 PagesThe father/son relationship are shown in both poems. Both are adults reflecting on their past. “My Papa’s Waltz” is about how the father would dance daily with the son. Although it was painful when he sometimes missed a step and his “right ear scraped a buckle”, this was a memorable memory for the son (Line 8). The poem has a happy tone of the sons childhood days.
Nikki Giovanni Legacy Poem Analysis
676 Words | 3 PagesInstead the author, Giovanni, allows them to have a shallow conversation with very few expressed words. Behind the simple words, there are more complex issues being harbored by both the grandmother and granddaughter. There are some key words in the poem such as “proud” (5) that describes how the grandmother felt about her rolls and “dependent” (9) that describes how the family needs the grandmother and her traditions. Also, the whole poem centers around the rolls of the grandmother, but it really centers around family bonds and traditions. These words, although key, are never share directly between the grandmother and granddaughter.
Abuelito Who Poem Theme
613 Words | 3 PagesWhen you and Mamma get old, I’ll feed you from this wooden dish.’” By then, the parents had realized that the way they were treating Grandfather was extremely disrespectful, and they were very ashamed. The parents changed their ways, and learned to be kind to him, and take care of him. The mood of this folktale is more about realization and changing your ways as controverting the poem’s mood. When reading this folktale, you feel upset for Grandfather at first, but towards the end, the mood is comforting and soothing knowing that Grandfather is going to be okay, and treated
My Papa's Waltz And Those Winter Sundays
683 Words | 3 PagesMany individuals believe that hands tell a lot about a person, such as their job or even their class. For instance, rough hands might indicate that the person works in construction and soft hand might indicate a person of high-class who is able to take care of his or her skin. The most common reason for cracked and aching hands is cold weather, which implies that the father in “Those Winter Sundays” is a blue-collar worker who performs his job outside. This contrasts with the battered hands seen in “My Papa’s Waltz,” which indicates some form of violence. The harsh words in both “My Papa’s
Compare And Contrast Sylvia Plath And My Papa's Waltz
846 Words | 4 PagesMeanwhile, Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” the speaker implies abuse through a metaphor about dancing, where, in lines 5, 6, and 11- 13 the speaker vaguely mentions abuse, saying “We romped until the pans/ slid from the kitchen shelf”, “at every step you missed/ my right ear scraped a buckle./ you beat time on my head.” These lines imply the father is abusive, boisterously beating the child in the kitchen so much so that pans fell, without actually saying so. In both poems, the speaker experiences abuse from the father figure in their
My Papa's Waltz Devices Analysis
563 Words | 3 PagesAlthough “Papa” may not be the most sensitive man around, but he is still to be a hero in his son's eyes. Referring from the title of “My Papa’s Waltz”, “Papa” does not seem like he’s being violent intentionally but not accidentally hurting his son. This poem also, symbolizes dance in the relationship of a father and
My Papa's Waltz Compare And Contrast
802 Words | 4 PagesEverything in life has similarities and differences as long as you're looking for them, but some have more than others. Comparing similarities and difference between two things in life is making a compare and contrast (book) . When comparing and contrasting two pieces of literature you have to observe not only the themes of them but also the plot. Fences by August Wilson and My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Roethke have many similarities and differences throughout the literature due to themes and the plot.
Compare And Contrast My Papa's Waltz
596 Words | 3 PagesMy papa’s waltz his/her dad was drunk while his son/daughter trying to teach waltz and in Grape sherbet his/her dad made recipe of swirled snow. “But I hung on like death/ Such waltzing was not easy” (line 3 and 4). “Dad appears with his
Imagery In My Papa's Waltz
898 Words | 4 PagesNow the father has transitioned from his hands, to his belt. To target the sons’ ear was not his purpose, but you could almost imagine the continuous beating with no intended target other than his son. The goal was to hurt him, does not matter where he hurt
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