“ARM WRESTLING WITH MY FATHER” BY BRAD MANNING AND “SHOOTING DAD” BY SARAH VOWELL In these two stories, both authors depict the condition of his/her parent/child relationship in spatial terms and their perception of gradual changes by expressing the hardship of understanding affection from each of their father during their childhood. Although these two are connected, each author has different conditions in terms of relationship with their own father and ways of describing to depict their stories
Sarah Vowell’s “Shooting Dad” discusses the relationship between a daughter and father. Engaged in a lifelong opposition to her father’s politics, interests, and his work, Vowell discovers just how much she actually has in common with him. Throughout her adolescent years, she was her father’s polar opposite. Her room was littered with musical instruments, albums, and Democratic campaign posters while her father’s, an avid gunsmith, was strewn with metal shavings and Republican party posters. Amongst
The Inability to Recognize Different Types of Love Both “Arm Wrestling with My Father” and “Shooting Dad” written by Brad Manning and Sarah Vowell, respectively, portrays a damaged and rough relationship that a son and/or daughter holds with his father. Although they both find themselves struggling, they are dealing with different things, Manning is dealing with a physical bounding, while Vowell finds herself handling a more emotional and communicative type of bonding. Eventually, both characters
Like Father, Like Daughter Let's face it; there comes a time in life when teenagers cannot stand their parents. Arguments ensue, many things that should never be said are spoken aloud, and the teenagers think that they have nothing in common with their parents. However, when Sarah Vowell shares her experience in the essay “Shooting Dad,” she gives the audience a complete, retrospective look at her teenage feuds, which contrasts her relationship with her father today. Vowell uses her past experiences
Alexie was different from his fellow peers because he learned to read books at a young age including the challenging novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Alexie values education and knowledge and does not let anyone get in the way of him and his books. Being an oddity since he is an Indian child and a minority, Alexie may have some hostilities built up against the people who doubted his intelligence such as the non-Indian teachers and other parties who patronized him. Considering that he was an Indian Alexie
In Sarah Vowell’s essay, Shooting Dad, there are many examples of hyperbole, but one that caught my attention was where she explains her father’s shop being a messy disaster area, a labyrinth of lathes (p.2, 7). She is implying that her father’s workshop resembles a maze, meaning that it is large and unorganized with metal and wood machines. An understatement found in this essay was when she explains how her father wants to die and she describes it in a nonchalant matter. Usually you figure people
“Shooting Dad,” by Sarah Vowell, is about two completely different groups, with contrasting views, that can learn to get along with one another. The reader learns through unsubtle clues that Vowell is a Democrat and her father is a Republican. These collective groups offer completely different viewpoints on many topics, therefore Vowell has a hard time getting along with her father. Vowell is not a strong supporter of guns; however her father has magazine subscriptions devoted to gun ownership
“Arm Wrestling with My Father,” Brad Manning writes about the relationships he has had with his father. He shares how they’re relationship has changed throughout his life once he came to a realization. In “Shooting Dad,” Sarah Vowell also writes about her relationship with her father and the differences in opinion between the two of them. Both authors end their essays by coming to a realization about their fathers. Although both authors have similar experiences with their fathers, they come to different