There is no such thing as a perfect relationship. All human beings are born with flaws. Each relationship takes work in order to make it function. A unique example of one is demonstrated by Pulitzer Prize winner Theodore Roethke. He is the author of a poem called, “My Papa’s Waltz”. The story is about a childhood memory which describes a late night in a family’s home. The speaker of the poem, a small boy at the time, is abused by his drunk father, however the boy accepts it because he loves his dad.

Alcohol affects the body in various ways. Since it is a depressant, it affects the mind in a peculiar way. Coordination, judgement, and memory are vastly changed when under the influence. In the poem, the father is drunk off of whiskey. Lines 1 and 2 state, “The whiskey on your breath / Could make a small boy dizzy” (Roethke). It is clear that the father drank so much that his breath alone can make his child feel the effects of alcohol. Another thing that can be drawn from this, is that the child recognizes the smell of whiskey. Not many children know that smell so it’s safe to say the father is an alcoholic. When under the influence, humans tend to be more aggressive. Theodore Roethke suggests that the speaker was abused in the following lines of the poem:

At every step you missed

My right ear scraped a buckle.

You beat time on my head

With a palm caked hard by dirt. (Lines 11-14)

Since the father is under the influence, this affects his judgement. He keeps stumbling around with his kid. Roethke says his father beats him head with his hand. This demonstrates the abuse that the speaker was suffering at the time.

Learned helplessness, a psychology term, means an abused person will eventually come to terms with his/her punishments. The speaker of the poem has this condition because it appears that he enjoys spending time with his father. In lines 15-16 the poet says, “Then waltzed me off to bed / Still clinging to your shirt” (Roethke). Even after the child has been abused, he still has a desire to stay with his father. This action clearly illustrates the speakers’ affection towards his dad. There’s enough evidence to conclude that the boy loves his father and doesn’t want him to leave. It also safe to say that the kid doesn’t get to see him very often. Roethke points out another example of how he loved his father in the passage. “But I hung on like death: / Such waltzing was not easy” (Lines 3-4). Due to the state of mind the father is in, the boy struggles to endure the painful waltz. Nevertheless, he holds on like his life depends on it. The poet uses the word “death” to insinuate a metaphor that describes the relationship between the speaker and his father. Unfortunately, Roethke’s dad died when he was a teenager. The poem describes a cherished childhood memory of his father even though it included abuse.

Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again expecting results. In the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” the poet includes his harsh reality of tough love. Theodore Roethke was constantly abused when he was a kid however that didn’t stop him from loving his father very dearly. It is safe to say that everyone is crazy for their loved ones.
