“forgiving my father” by Lucille Clifton is a poem based on the broken relationship between a father and his daughter. This piece shows how complex financial awareness actually is. The main idea of this poem is to show that the father “owed” his daughter and wife. The father doesn’t provide much for his daughter because he can’t and she feels as if her father should owe her for that. Their horrible relationship was centered around the need for money, which seemed impossible coming from him. Personally, this poem is interesting because I can relate with my own bad relationship with my father and it grasps my attention through the daughter’s negative feelings towards her father. Also, this poem is interesting because you don’t realize how much of an affect money can actually have on someone’s life. At first, the daughter envies her father, then she talks about how he had nothing to offer her and her mother, and finally towards the end of the poem, the daughter shows that she now accepts the fact of who her father was and now there is nothing that she or he can do about it. 

Think about how you would feel if you were deprived of one of the things that everyone in the world wants: money. You’d most likely be angry. The daughter felt anger and hate towards her father because she felt deprived of the one thing that would make all of her troubles in the world go away. “i wish you were rich so i could take it all / and give the lady what she was due” (lines 10-11), the author feels anger towards her father and wishes things upon him for her life to be easier. She wishes that her father had money and that he would give all he had to her mother and herself. The daughter feels as if her father should be held accountable for all of his shortcomings rather than seeing his deficiencies. He gave as much as he could, which was never enough in the daughter’s eyes. 

Condemn is to express complete disapproval of. The daughter condemned her father, in relation to his actions. She felt as if he didn’t do enough for herself and her mother. She condemned him because of the money deprivation. The daughter uses harsh and unforgiving words to describe her father and what he did, or rather in this case, what he didn’t do. She blames her father for the struggle that her and her mother went through because if they were to have money then all the stress and anxiety of not having enough wouldn’t exist. In line 3 she says, “all week you have stood in my dreams like a ghost, asking for more time” which means that she is forced to think about her deceased father because of the deprivation of money. She relates him to a ghost because he is just a haunting memory of her life and not being able to be there enough for his family. 

Towards the conclusion of “forgiving my father” she learns to accept that her father couldn’t do anything about his past now. Her father is now deceased, with nothing left after he died. She realizes that her father gave what he actually did have, even though it was nothing to her. She reflects on his past and accepts who he is as a father, and how there is nothing that she can change about that now that he is gone. She puts all the times that she resented him for what he couldn’t give, the blaming for all of her life troubles, and the fact that he was just a horrible person and father, behind her and realizes that is it hard for her to hate her father. She then realizes that he tried as hard as he could and gave all that he had. In line 14 when she says, “you gave her all you had which was nothing. you had already given her all you had”. She accepts that fact that he really did sacrifice a lot for his family but he could’ve done more for them to not be in poverty for their whole lives. 

“forgiving my father” by Lucile Clifton was sort of an eye opening, heart tugging story that makes you realize that not everyone has it so easy. Even though her father couldn’t provide as much as he should have, she tries her hardest to convince herself that she hates him, but it’s easier said than done. She realizes that she actually doesn’t despise him as much as she thinks she does, but she definitely doesn’t agree with his lifestyle. Growing up, knowing that you’re not as fortunate as everyone around you can really take a toll on someone so young. After her father was no longer around anymore, she realized that it was finally time to let go of all her grudges and forgive him. The daughter at first kind of let out all her anger towards her father, then finally after he is gone it transitions into forgiveness and acceptance. 
