Alcoholism is difficult to understand as a young child. During his or her adolescent years is when a child begins to understand the severity of the disease. Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” explains the sense of loyalty, and admiration a young son has for his alcoholic father. The speaker is a small boy, who stays up late dancing with his drunken father. 

The whiskey on your breath

Could make a small boy dizzy;

But I hung on like death:

Such waltzing was not easy (Roethke 1-4)

The small boy dancing can noticeably tell his father is drunk by his breath. However, the boy tries to keep up with his dad, even though he stumbles around the house. “But I hung on like death;” (Roethke 3). These words are paramount to the poem. No matter how drunk the father appears to be in the poem, the boy hangs on. This shows the true sense of admiration the child has for his father. 

While still holding on to his father, the boy bounces around the house. “We romped until the pans/ Slid from the kitchens shelf;” (Roethke 5-6). Even while being thrown into pans throughout the kitchen, the child still clings onto his father. If one does not know, a waltz is a form of dance described as “a smooth, progressive dance characterized by long, flowing movements… graceful and elegant” (Sears 1). The tone of the dance described in the poem is clumsy, or intemperate. Rather than being smooth, this dance erupts into knocking pots and pans over. No matter the danger the boy seems to be in, he still holds onto his father. A father is supposed to be a role model for their kids. For this boy, he genuinely wants to look up to him, although he does not grasp how his father’s alcoholism may harm him.

Not only is the boy admiring of his father, he is admiring of his mother. “My mother’s countenance/ Could not unfrown itself” (Roethke 7-8). While her husband drunkenly waltz’s through the kitchen with their son, the mother shows discontent from the side. Keep in mind, the speaker, the boy, is still hitched onto his father. The boy is conscious of the mother’s signs of distress. He wants the whole family to be happy, but this is very unlikely to happen in a household with an alcoholic. 

In the next lines, the boy focuses in on his father’s markings. These markings can indicate different ideas. 

The hand that held my wrist

Was battered on one knuckle;

At every step you missed

My right ear scraped a buckle (Roethke 9-12)

The boy examines the markings on the father’s knuckles. The battering could be from the father beating on his wife. While dancing, the son is getting cut by the belt buckle of the father. From these lines, we see that both the mother and the son were/ are getting physically harmed. Whether it be the father’s bruised up hand, or the son’s scraped up ear, the son still shows his admiration for the father, as he continues to hold on.

The next lines show that the father waltzed the son to bed. The words used in these lines give an interpretation of the setting.

You beat time on my head

With a palm caked hard by dirt,

Then waltzed me off to bed

Still clinging to my shirt (Roethke 13-16)

The father can be described as someone who works physical labor due to his dirty hands. This poem was written by Roethke in the 1940’s (Poetry Archive), which makes the setting of this poem during the great depression. During this time, many workers were laid off, and the men of the households had to take on physical labor with poor hours. The father’s sense of relaxation can be seen to come from alcohol. During these hard times, it is reasonable to say many families experienced alcoholism on this level. The boy may look up to his father in the aspect that he respects the hardships his father faces. He respects the notion that his father sacrifices so much for his family, and accepts that the alcohol is just a way to cope. That is why the son may appear to be blinded, through admiration, to the harsh reality that his dad is an abusive alcoholic. 

In this poem, there are many powerful symbols. The one in particular that is most important is the type of the dance the father and son do, the waltz. This dance is considered more of a scamper than a dance in the poem. “We romped until the pans/ Slid from the kitchen shelf;” (Roethke 5-6). As explained earlier, a waltz is supposed to be graceful, not rough as demonstrated throughout the poem. This is a powerful idea to have the waltz as the main focus for the poem because a waltz is a trusting dance and, as of now, the child trusts, and admires his father. Roethke chose to write this poem to show the admiration kids have for their parents, no matter how hard times may be. This admiration kids experience can both be healthy, and unhealthy. In this instance, the admiration is unhealthy because the son and wife are getting physically injured. This poem is meant to point out that a young child’s mind is tempted to look at everything as a positive, rather assess if the action is doing overall damage. The admiration the child may feel for his father now will change to scorn as he matures and understands alcoholism is a disease.
