
After reading My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke, one can imagine many different predictions of the father and son’s relationship.  The reader clearly sees that the father and son’s relationship is extremely complicated.  The predictions split between whether the speaker was beaten by his father as a child or dancing playfully with his father.  The evidence in the text shows that the speaker of My Papa’s Waltz is an adult reflecting on his childhood memory of dancing with his drunken father.  As a child the speaker was overwhelmed with affection and fear for his abusive father.  As an adult the speaker discovered the waltz with his father isn’t what he knew it to be as a child.  The evidence from the text shows that the son was abused and beaten by his father when he was a young boy.   

The images of pots and pans sliding off the kitchen shelf may be interpreted two different ways.  The father could be acting playful with his son or violent and reckless.  However, when the mother comes into the scene she shows that she doesn’t approve of the father and son’s dance.  “My mother’s countenance Could not unfrown itself,” (7-8) means that the mother could not stop frowning at the sight of her husband and son waltzing.  The mother obviously should have stopped the dance for her son’s sake.  Most mothers would do anything to protect their children but she doesn’t say a single word.  The fact that the mother disapproves but doesn’t do anything to stop the father shows she is living in constant fear of her husband.  The mother must know that no matter what she says her husband won’t stop waltzing with their son.  

The first stanza’s allusion to death, “But I hung on like death,” (3) immediately opens up the poem for a darker interpretation.  Also, the speaker’s word choice throughout the work suggests violence and abusive behavior from the father towards the boy.  Words that suggest this are: dizzy, hung, death, battered, scraped, buckle, beat, caked, and clinging.  These words lead the reader to believe that the speaker was being abused physically by his father.  The use of the word “buckle” changes the reader’s opinion greatly, because in the past belts were used to strike children when they were in trouble.  Knowing this the reader’s image of the father and son’s waltz seems more brutal and physical.  

In the first stanza, “The whiskey on your breath,” (1) gives the reader a bad first impression of the father since he is dancing with his son with whiskey on his breath.  Some may believe the father had an innocent drink when he got home from a long and tiring day at work.  However, the following line, “Could make a small boy dizzy,” (2) shows the reader that the father had multiple drinks which could lead the reader to believe he is an alcoholic.  The fact that the father had so much to drink around his young child shows he is irresponsible and doesn’t care much for his son’s safety.  Because these are the first two lines of My Papa’s Waltz one’s first impression of the father is already bad, which affects the way the reader interprets the rest of the work.  

Throughout My Papa’s Waltz, the speaker hints at how he was abused as a child.  An example could be “The hand that held my wrist Was battered on one knuckle,” (9-10) which shows that the father had scars and scraps already on his hands.  The reader doesn’t know how the father’s knuckle became battered but one might assume the father was drunk and/or committed acts of violence.  Also, instead of the boy referring to the father’s hand as “your hand” he says “the hand.”  This seems to be unusual and impersonal since the speaker is referring to his father’s hand.  Another example is “At every step you missed My right ear scraped a buckle,” (11-12) which seems painful towards the boy.  The father doesn’t do anything to stop the boy from scraping his ear.  This gives the reader the impression that the father doesn’t truly care for his son.

The last stanza shows both sides of the father and son’s conflicting relationship.  The first two lines “You beat time on my head With a palm caked hard by dirt,” (13-14) suggest the father is hitting his son on the head with his filthy hand.  These two lines show the abusive and unpleasant side of their relationship.  While the last two lines “Then waltzed me off to bed Still clinging to your shirt,” (15-16) give the reader a different idea on their relationship.  Some may interpret this image as the boy not having enough energy to let go of his father and walk on his own to bed. An alternative perspective could be that the young boy doesn’t want to go to bed so early.  However, the most logical interpretation is that the boy didn’t want the waltz with his father to end.  This shows that the boy still deeply loves his father even though his father abuses him.  The reader believes that the boy just wants to be loved by his parents and he will do anything to feel that way.  

In My Papa’s Waltz, the speaker shows the reader the confusing and complicated relationship between him and his father.  This poem could be a direct reflection of the author, Theodore Roethke’s relationship with his own father.  We see the harm that the boy endures from his father but we also see the love the boy has for his father.  The title shows the reader that the dance is the father’s waltz and not the son’s waltz.  This means that the son was most likely forced to dance with his drunken father.  The boy even admits that it was not easy dancing with his father, “Such waltzing was not easy,” (4).  However, it seems that the father doesn’t care whether his son enjoys the waltz or hates it.  Overall, the reader sees that the boy was being abused by his father but still deeply loves and cares for his father.