Everybody makes mistakes throughout their life.  However, some mistakes are a little more difficult to forgive, and it depends on the seriousness of the incident.  For example, if a person lost an item that belonged to one of their friends, chances are the friend will forgive that person.  If a kid accidentally said something that he/she should not have said in front of his/her mother, then chances are the mother would eventually forgive him because sometimes, we do not think before we speak.  On the contrary, if a person was caught doing something illegal behind a parent or guardian’s back and had to go to prison because of the mistake that the person made, then it would be assumed that the parent or guardian would either not forgive the person altogether or take a really long time forgiving that person.  Mistakes can either be very mild or extremely serious.  In “Forgiving my Father” by Lucille Clifton, it is extremely difficult to forgive the father for what he has done.  The author describes the father in many ways that deal with financial and monetary terms.  The author uses these terms to determine what the daughter believes about the father.  The use of money and expenses throughout “Forgiving my Father” shows the tragedy and hardship of this family; the father has let them down by not being there for them, and it will never be the same for the mother and daughter.  Therefore, the father is definitely not forgiven.

In the first stanza of the poem, it talks about payday being on Friday and how it relates to the lifestyle of the family.  As a result, the father did not have any money to pay for anything, so the mother obviously was aggravated.  It is extremely hard for anyone to not be aggravated when somebody else does not have enough money to offer.  It gets really important when the poem states that “today is payday, payday old man, my mother’s hand opens in her early grave” (5-6).  Because the loss of money caused the mother to die, she got really frustrated and stressed by the whole situation, and she could not take it much longer.  Can anyone imagine going into debt?  Even worse, the daughter had to go through the situation just like her parents did.  In the beginning of this poem, the daughter makes it perfectly clear that she could not go on with her life without knowing that this situation happened between her parents.  She also states that her own mother could not rest peacefully because of how the father poorly treated his own wife.  

In the second stanza, the value of money goes in a different direction when the daughter states that “I wish you were rich so I could take it all and give the lady what she was due but you were the only son of a needy father” (10-12).  This quote starts off by saying that the father was obviously poor and that she wishes much more from him when they were living as a family.  The last part of the quote mentions that the father has come from a family of his own that had to go through similar situations involving money and expenses.  His family had it worse than himself when they were living.  It is absolutely possible that this father is coming from a poor background that could go back to many generations.  However, I still agree with the daughter because of how he treated his family, regardless of his background.  His past could very well have been a factor into the person that he was in the poem.  

Finally, in the third stanza of the poem, Clifton describes the most important reference to money as it relates to this family.  “You lie side by side in debtors’ boxes” (22).  This is a very serious quote in “Forgiving my Father”, and the meaning is a huge theme in life today.  This quote symbolizes the lack of love and affection that this family possesses.  The father did not provide the love that he should have applied to the family, and that also resulted in chaos and complete stress.  He did not provide for his family; therefore, he was not there to help his family.  “No accounting will open them up” (23).  Nothing could ever make up for how the father treated his family.  It is extremely hard and depressing to imagine because families are supposed to love each other every day.  Even though the father did not have much to offer, the least he could have done was provided love and affection to his mother and daughter.  The father left with nothing but haunting memories for the daughter to keep with her.  Can anyone imagine a family without love?  It honestly would be very difficult to forgive someone after they were not there for you or did not show any love or affection towards you.

In conclusion, this is an incident in life that is most likely not going to be forgiven.  How could anyone forgive someone like this father?  The guy could not even show love and affection to his own daughter regardless of the situation.  That should come first as a parent to a child.  He had many strikes in this poem, and Lucille Clifton used wonderful monetary analogies to describe and express every mistake that the father made for his family.  Everybody makes mistakes, but this was not just a simple mistake.  This incident had a huge impact on the family as a whole, and it left the daughter traumatized and depressed.  Who could blame her?  The use of monetary value in “Forgiving my Father” provided extreme proof of the relationship between the father and his family as they struggled with hardship and trust throughout the poem.  Is the father forgiven?  He is definitely not, and I do not think anyone would forgive someone who caused the family to have tragedy and pain by not being there for them.
