Lack of Forgiveness in Lucille Clifton's poem Forgiving My Father

To start off, the first stanza in her song represents a sense of how unavoidable change is and how the confusion of the bond combined with the stress of the blame game can lead to a doomed

The poet addresses issues of the child observing an unhealthy and abusive relationship between his/her father and mother in the third stanza. The eighth line states, “Do we forgive our Fathers for marrying or not marrying our Mothers?” These words insinuate that the father treated the child’s mother badly or was abusive to her and that she deserved better. This is so considering the only reason to forgive someone for marrying another implies they treated that person improperly. Likewise, having to forgive someone for not marrying another simply displays how the other person never received what he or she

She is realizing that she will have freedom through her husband death and whispers over and over, “free, free, free!” Her unhappiness is not with her husband, it is her rankings in society and becoming a widow is her only chance she has to gain the power, money, respect, and most of all freedom.

At first she calls on G-d to “strengthen me in my distress” (line 9). Then the narrator begins to think that “It was His own, it was not mine” (like 17) which shows that she’s beginning to accept what happened. This was all in G-d’s plan; it was predetermined. The narrator goes on to say “Adieu, adieu, all’s vanity” (line 36). This is a very materialistic phrase. However, in the next stanza, the narrator says that she is the one in the wrong for straying from G-d. The realization of the connection she has developed to material objects brings on a reflecting of how she ever strayed from G-d since there is nothing to count on except G-d. In the last stanza, the narrator says, “My hope and treasure lies above” (line 54). Everything that the narrator needs is in heaven. While she may seem a little resentful, she is able to accept the destruction of her house and turn it into love for G-d. The idea of predestination makes an appearance again as the narrator knows that this is what G-d wanted. G-d is all that she has left now since she lost all of her material wealth along with everything

In stanza 12, she tells us that he has “bit her pretty red heart in two.” Next, she states that he died when she was ten, and when she was twenty years old, she attempted suicide - “…I tried to die, to get back back back to you.” In stanza 13 is where she starts talking about her husband. She says that instead of dying, her friends “stuck her together with glue,” and since she could not die to get back to her father, she would marry someone who was similar.

Moreover, in this first stanza, Carter is perhaps saying the “need” for a father in general is a necessity, a basic human right, and all children deserve “a word of praise” every now and then.

The third stanza goes on to define the pain, only now in more emotional terms, such as "It hurts to thwart the reflexes / of grab, of clutch" (14-15), as well as the pain of continuously having to say good bye, each perhaps as if for the last time: "to love and let / go again and again" (15-16). These lines reinforce the impression that the first stanza's definition of "to love differently" is in fact an anti-freedom or state of emotional anarchy, now using words like "pester" to describe any separation; the poet is compelled "to remember / the lover who is not in the bed" (16), hinting at obsessive tendencies as being possible components of the relationship. We also learn that she believes love requires work, which she cannot do without her partner's assistance, and that this lack of cooperation frustrates her. She believes this neglected effort is the other party's fault by his failure to do his fair share, thereby leaving her own efforts ineffective, the whole of it characterized as an effort "that gutters like a candle in a cave / without air" (19-20). Her demands of this work are quite broad, encompassing being "conscious, conscientious and concrete" in her efforts and optimistically calling this work "constructive" (20-21) before ending the stanza.

As previously stated in the quote from page 130, Shelley feels the weight of having to forgive others lifted from shoulders. Shelley’s relief comes because she is leaving the sisterhood and abandoning her call to be a nun. During her final talk with Emma, Shelley admits that her habit (occupation) is her obligation to forgive Emma. What implications does Shelley leave for readers to struggle with? As Christians, we don’t have any obligation to forgive? Only as an occupational Christian, i.e. priests, monks, nuns, pastors, or ministers are you obligated to forgive? Shelley herself references scripture when she prays about her father, “Whatever his faults he’s my father I owe him that Seventy times seven” (106), so it can be inferred that Shelley knows as a Christian she ought to forgive others like Jesus said, “seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22, ESV). Schreck sends a confusing message about the occupation of forgiveness vs the discipline of forgiveness. If the readers were to analyze Shelley’s belief in forgiveness using the Wesleyan Quadrilateral they'd soon realize Shelley is convicted by experience, knows in scripture Christians are to forgive, and traditionally forgiveness has been a major tenet of faith in the Christian community. Which leaves reason, readers may think of Shelley’s comments as nothing more than an outburst of emotion.

The characters in Harper Lee's 1960 novel To Kill A Mockingbird, portray acceptance, tolerance and forgiveness through their moral actions towards discriminative situations. Throughout my visual representation I have portrayed visual symbols to reflect upon Lee's southern gothic novel about immoral discrimination and inequality within Western society through the world of Maycomb; a small town situated in Alabama. Lee challenges the audience about the segregation of individuals through the court case of Tom Robinson; an innocent black who is accused of raping and beating a low class girl. Atticus, a well respected lawyer, stands up for the equal treatment and fair trial of Robinson. This pivotal event within the novel, as well as the ongoing

For some people, the topic of family is very controversial. While some family dynamics might seem like ones who are placed on an advertisement for a Loews magazine, most families have underlying problems that take place behind the scenes. It is undeniable that putting two works into conversation with each other can have several advantages. For example, in the poems “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, and Lucille Clifton’s “forgiving my father” they both portray their childhood memories that aren 't so picture perfect. While these poems highlight the wrongdoings of their father’s, in the end they both end up forgiving their fathers despite their lack of care. Although the authors portray it to us in different ways, by comparing both of these texts to each other their similarities and differences allow us to create a more well-rounded understanding of the author’s themes of the importance of forgiveness in the family.

Children are often expected to forgive their parents for any mistake their parents may have made, however forgiving and forgetting are not the same thing. How parents nurture their children has a significant role in those children’s lives. Children may have forgiven, but forgetting is a not always as easy or even possible. Theodore Roethke’s poem “My papa’s waltz” and Lucille Clifton’s “forgiving my father” recalls the speakers’ respective childhoods and treatment by their father. The poem shows that even through time it is not as always easy to forgive and memories make people incapable of letting go. Lucille Clifton’s poem “forgiving my father,” a daughter recollects the animosity she has for her father. She is here to collect for all his wrongdoings not just as a father but a horrible husband. Theodore Roethke’s poem “My papa’s waltz” leaves the reader to interpret his feelings through “a waltz” - dance. It is unclear whether there was love between Roethke and his father. However, the reader understands there was fear. Clifton’s “Forgiving my Father” uses a more direct approach to let the reader knows her thoughts towards her father; both poems show that forgiveness is required to move forward. However, one never forgets.

While the poems portray two different perspectives of a father, both poems feature a torn relationship between the narrator and the narrator’s father. In Hayden’s poem, the narrator talks of his relationship with his father by describing the services he did with, “No one ever thanked him” (5). Among those who never shared their appreciation for what the father did is the narrator himself. The fifth line of the poem suggests that the narrator and his father did not speak comfortably or frequently when he was a child, and he obviously regrets it. The father does many things for his son and family, yet the narrator does not thank him for any of it. The son did not appreciate his father’s acts of love until it was too late. Comparatively, Clifton’s poem features a daughter who has a broken relationship with her father because of the resentment she

In the poem the speaker tells us about how his father woke up early on Sundays and warmed the house so his family can wake up comfortably. We are also told that as he would dress up and head down stairs he feared ¨the chronic angers of that house¨, which can be some sort of quarrel between his father and his mother in the house. This can also lead the reader to believe that the father may have had been a hard dad to deal with. However the father would polish his son's shoes with his cracked hands that ached. This shows the love that the father had for his son and now that the son has grown he realizes what his father did for him. The sons morals and feelings have changed him because as he has grown to become a man he has learned the true meaning of love is being there for one's family and not expecting it to be more than what it is. Consequently this teaches him a lesson on how much his father loved him and how much he regrets not telling him thank

statements, which sets up quite a logical tone. In the first line of her poem she states, "If ever two

According to the concept of reading the world and word that was mentioned in the article The Importance of the Act of Reading is written by Freire and Macedo. I notice my parents are my first teacher, and they have taught me to “read” the world. For example, my parents taught me about sharing lessons. Now, my family had a chance to live in the United State where my family has a better job and better life. Living in a wealthy country, America makes us cherish and appreciate more what we are, we find ourselves luckier than many people are living in my small town in Vietnam. Now, we have enough food to eat, so my parents usually save money and send it back to my grandmother in Vietnam. Then, she often buys foods such as rice, and noodles to share to older people who are not able to work. I learned from her that life is sharing, so my family and I usually give to charities to help people to have a better life. I have collected used books, and clothes to send back to children in my village. Therefore, giving without expecting something in return is a key part of my family, and my family culture is to help people.