
To forgive or not to forgive: that is the question… Or is it? In the poem, Forgiving my Father by Lucille Clifton, it seems that the main character’s mind has already been set from the beginning.  The poem is about a girl that was deeply affected by family issues in her childhood and later deals with the aftermath in her adulthood. The poem contains a lot of purposeful ambiguity and contradiction. Lucille Clifton’s sole intention is to lead readers to believe that the main character is not going to forgive her father, but through much criticism of her father, she finally forgives him.

Lucille Clifton uses words that hold financial meaning such as “payday”, “bills”, “rich”, “pocket”, “bargain”, “collection”, “debtor”, and “accounting” to convey a sense of monetary payback or retribution. She gives the readers the idea that her father owes her.  Above the surface, readers may perceive her choice of words as the main character expressing that her father has a financial debt to pay back to her. Thinking more deeply into the context, one would find that the author actually wants the readers to see that the daughter is grieving at her father’s grave. She wants to forgive her father for the terrible way that he treated her and her mother. Though she is essentially on her mother’s side when it comes to the financial status of the family, she wants to forgive her father because he could not help his situation. She shows remorse and provides evidence of this idea when she says, “but you were the only son of a needy father, the father of a needy son;” (line 13). The daughter felt as though the father grew up in a household that was similar to the household that he created for his own family. Her father could not truly be held accountable for the way that their family functioned because it was the only way of family that he knew.

When the author says, “you have already given her all that you had (16),” she further expresses that the daughter is letting go of the issues that she held with her father. Separate from the entire piece, the line actually shows that the daughter is being somewhat sympathetic towards her father. She does not criticize him as she did earlier in the work. The author does not scorn her father as harshly as she did at the beginning of the piece. He honestly gave his family everything that he had. Sadly, he had nothing so he had nothing to give his family. The author leaves the readers to ponder the implication that if the father had possessions or money to give, he might have taken better care of his family and its financial and emotional needs. Again, the author allows the readers to see that the daughter is not harshly criticizing her father but, in fact, she is showing leniency, optimism, and sympathy. By the tone of the line, “you have already given her all that you had (16),” the daughter is in the process of forgiving her father.

The author uses the quote “what am I doing here collecting?” (21) to emphasize how long the daughter has been waiting for her father to make things right.  She has been seeking retribution for so long that it has become the ritual. The daughter finally comes to the realization that there is nothing to collect. She emphasizes the fact that she sees no point in attempting to get any dues now that her father is dead. The daughter finally grasps the fact that she would not get anywhere in life leaving past situations that cannot be fixed open for dwelling. Holding onto the past does not make for a bright future. She realizes that she needs to let go for her own sake, so she ultimately forgives her father to move on with her life and to not become a person similar to either of her parents. The daughter wants to live a better life than the one her parents provided her.

Forgiving my Father was written by Lucille Clifton to demonstrate the intricacy of the relationships of family, especially those in poverty. Ambiguity and contradiction were major devices that Lucille Clifton used to challenge or confuse readers. Even the title feeds into her intentions. Throughout the poem, the author not only has the daughter harshly criticize her father but also shows sympathy towards him. Lucille Clifton leaves the readers to decide whether the daughter forgives her father or not. Through specific context clues and provided evidence, one can conclude that the daughter finally does forgive her father and goes on with her life.
