Final Reading Response

    

When you're a little kid, life's your personal amusement park; A fairy tale almost. Its full of rides, face painting, good food and everything you love. When you're a kid, you love the tricks and secretes of this 'amusment park' called life. Nothing in life is bad or wrong-when you're a kid at least. But as you mature into a teen, life's less like an amusement park and begins to lose it's fairy tale sparkle. The poem 'My Papa's Waltz' by Theodore Rothke is a prime example of finding fun or childish ways in a dark and not so friendly situation.

     The poem is viewed at 2 sides. Neither side can be proven wrong. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. NO ONE IS RIGHT OR WRONG. One side of the poem is that its merely a child having fun with his father. He had  a hard day of work so he had a drink to 'relax'. When you're 'relaxed' you have more fun in some cases then when you're tense. The line The hand that held my wrist Was battered on one knuckle; At every step you missed My right ear scraped a buckle. I think that shows he was being abused. When a father usually is holding his child, he wouldn't hold him by the wrist, it would be by the hand. And his knuckle was probably battered from ' romping' around in the kitchen.It could just be viewed as having a good time.

     The other side is more realistic. I think it's about being abused blindly or being in denial about who you love or how they treat you. I think because he's a kid he can find how they 'play' to be unique or not like everyone else. But it's not all that great. Sometimes when you're abused especially by someone you love. You can be blinded and accept what they put you through because you love them.

     I think this poem relates to the real world because more times than less do people find themselves in situations where they let a bad thing go on for too long because of love for another (the mothers possible perspective). But I think your love for another should never be more important than the love you have for yourself. The mother could've been putting her son AND herself in serious danger if the boys father had a drinking problem

     But overall I think the poem is classic because at some point in life someone knows another person who can understand this. Its also a thought provoking and highly debatable piece of writing. No one will ever for sure know what was the message behind My Papa's Waltz; all you can do is wonder

The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.

We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself.

The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.

You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt.