




In “My Papas Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, he states “But I hung on like death:/Such waltzing was not easy” (Roethke, pg.90). The young boy in this text is probably no older than 8-9 years old, he has this father who isn’t being a father figure to him, but yet this boy is still clinging onto him and depending on him. There is innocence in this writing and most people do not see this due to the actions of the father. A child is so delicate, they can easily be broken down and discouraged by the little things they see their parents do, but that child will surpass the negative and look for the light at the end of the tunnel.Theodore’s writing is an eye opener to show that not everyone comes from a good background, even though someone’s appearance comes across as everything is okay, it really may be broken into pieces; that person is waltzing through life.

Dependability is something every young child needs. Even adolescence and adults need someone to depend on but its most important for a child. Children need someone to guide them in the right direction and help them make life decisions. They are relying on that person(s) to always be there and if they’re not there then the child is lost. Making decisions and deciding on what’s the right thing to do comes with experience, and a child in incapable to do those all on their own due to the lack of experience. How is a child supposed to know what to do without guidance, how is that child able to grow into a good young adult if the child doesn’t have a great example to follow. A father is supposed to teach their son how to grow into a man, how to treat a lady, how to fix and build things, a father is supposed to be a young boy`s role model, someone he can always look up to. Sadly, that’s not the case for everyone. Not everyone has a great father or a great mother, that makes the child grow up faster than they should. In Theodore`s poem, there is a young lad who clings to his father and it doesn’t seem like the father could care to give him the time of day. He needs his father for everything: food, water, shelter, the clothes he wears on his back, love, support, etc.…he depends highly on the choices his father makes.  This boy did nothing wrong to deserve a father like this, he is innocent and it is the father who is in the wrong here because he brought him into the world but yet he isn’t doing a good job raising him and giving him what he needs, so who is the boy really depending on here?

Children show unconditional love for their parents and family. They know they’re able to count on them to make things better or to just joke around and have a good time, they know they`re loved. No matter how many times the parent yells at them, spanks them, or even punishes them, they are always going to love them no matter what because they know it’s for their own good. Oddly enough, children are like dogs, the owner can abuse the puppy and the pup is still going to love them right back in hopes for a better day or for some caring attention. Children and puppies represent innocence because they both don’t know any better until an authority figure steps up to the plate and guides them; hopefully for the better. Love is more than just a feeling, love is a way of respect and how people show and treat others around them; it’s a way of caring. “You beat time on my head/With a palm caked hard by dirt, /Then waltzed me off to bed/Still clinging to your shirt” (Roethke, 91). Even though the father beats on his son, the young boy is still there, he’s still holding on in hope for a better day, he still loves his father after all the things he has done to him. He relies on him and due to his inexperienced mind the boy could possibly not know that the things his father is doing to him is wrong. It’s possible that the boy could be blaming himself for everything, when really he`s done nothing wrong. This just shows that an innocent mind is so precious until something tragic comes to ruin it.

Therefore, the events that take place during childhood can really lay out his future and the type of man he`ll grow up to be. Children are either pushed away by their parents, follow their parent’s footsteps, or even turn out completely opposite than their parents. As I’ve stated before, a father plays an important role in a son’s life, and if the father is an alcoholic and abusive and is showing this behavior in front of the son, then the son will grow up thinking it’s okay to be like that as well. A father who is like this has no clue how it`ll effect his son in the long run until it`s too late. “The whiskey on your breath/Could make a small boy dizzy…We romped until the pans/ Slid from the kitchen shelf;/My mother`s countenance/ Could not unfrown itself” (Roethke, 90,91). All of these scenes reveals an awful environment for him to be growing up in. He can see the disappointment on the mother’s face but does he know that’s not okay? Does he know it’s not okay to come home drunk almost every day? Does he know it’s not okay for a father to beat his children? No, he most likely doesn’t know because this is the atmosphere he is growing up in, and to him when he gets to the adult age he won’t know that what he’s doing is wrong (if he turns out like his father).

A young child`s mind is so valuable and fragile that the parents only have one chance to raise them right. All children start out innocent, they don’t know the difference between right and wrong and how to treat people with respect and dignity. They learn that from their parents and if their parents aren’t good role models and don’t teach them that, then they grow up thinking it’s okay to mistreat people and to abuse their own loved ones and to constantly drink and eventually turn into an alcoholic. Kids who grow up in an abusive environment often tell themselves that their parents are doing it out of love, or are they really trying too hide everything that’s been done to them. The audience who reads Roethke, “My Papas Waltz” tend to notice the big picture of the story, which would be the drunk abusive father. Not many readers pick up on the hidden (smaller) picture within the text, which is, the effects on the son. So why write about the father when the close read focuses on the son?


