Thursday, September 29, 2011
Fathers and Sons
In a brief paragraph, compare and contrast the father-son relationships in "The Short History of an Ear" and "Digging." What are the implied theses in the essays? Organizing principles? Universals and particulars? Are they similar/different? How? Please refer directly to the texts at least once in your response.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The two short stories "The Short History of an Ear" and "Digging" are quite similar in theme, but are vastly different in style. First, TSHOAE revolves around a central event,the author's visit to the doctor's office. It then returns to his childhood and goes chronologically from there. In "Digging"the story starts out with the author reflecting his relationship with is father, and then goes on to give an important story in their relationship. Particularly and universally the stories differ also. In TSHOAE the universal truth is that the relationship between father and son has an unspoken pain, while particularly the example uses the author's own relationship with his father through wrestling. In "Digging" the universal truth is that often times a parent pushing their child to do something is good, and particularly the author uses his own example of his father making him work on a ranch. Finally, the implied thesis in TSHOAE is that the relationship between father and son has unspoken pain, while in "Digging" the implied thesis is that is often good for a parent to push you do to something.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Short History of an Ear" and "Digging" both fathers convinced/ made the authors do certain things. In "Digging" his father "encourages" him to get a job and he can't say no too his father because he doesn’t want to hurt him while in "The Short History of an Ear" his father pushes him to wrestle because he himself was a wrestler. In the "Short History of an Ear" the implied thesis is shown in the last line of the essay. "... as much joy and pride as there is between a father and a son, I don't know that I could endure much more of the unspoken pain that marks the lives of fathers and sons. It never ends." Based off of the rest of the essay this means that there is a negative aspect of the relationship between the father and son and sometimes it is hard to remember that in the end both are better off because of it. In "Digging" there are two implied theses. One is that sometimes, even when it seems like they are only trying to hurt you that the father knows what they are doing. When his father makes him get a job, he is trying to make him become his own man and he becomes much stronger because of this. Also, when his father buys him the pike helmet even though he doesn't want to wear it, it ends up being the perfect thing for him to wear for working and prevents him from throwing up again. The second thesis is that tough things can make you stronger, you just have to work your way through them. The organizing principle of "Digging" begins with a back-story that gives us the background on his relationship with his father and then after all that is done he turns chronological and depicts each event in order that it occurred from when he gets the job to his reflection on how it built his character. In “The Short History of an Ear” the organizing principle is centered around the moment his ear is injured in wresting”. Then Dr. Pearson unravels what people thought of his ear by the doctor, barber, and acupuncturist. The particular in “Digging” is the entire story where his father makes him get a job while the universal is that we each struggle through events that make us stronger. In “The Short History of an Ear” the particular is that his father got him to wrestle and that is how he injured his ear while the universal truth is that father’s have great power of what he do and that the relationship can be more than just physically painful. Both these essays are plot-wise very different, but they share the common element of the father and the importance the father plays. Both people grow as people from what their father has taught them, though again, they grow in different ways.
ReplyDeleteThe relationship between father and son are similar in both "The Short History of an Ear" and "Digging". It is about the relationship between father and son and how the relationship forms. However, they are both different. In "The Short History of an Ear" his father is openly supportive of his son. For example, he talks about how his father would pull out the wrestling mat and teach him and his brother to wrestle. In "Digging" the father is supportive, but at first Andre (the son) doesn't realize it. By sending him to do a "mans work", Andre becomes a man. Sure, Andre hates it when he is doing the work, but when he is a man looking back, he realizes his father meant well and maybe that it hurt his father to be so "indifferent" to Andre's emotions. The theses are both similar in that they deal with the fathers. Both stories have a central event (the digging or the ear) but they all go back to focus on the father and their relationships with their sons. Their specifics of their relationships are particular, but the relationship of father and son is a universal thing. Every son (and daughter, I suppose) and father relationship is something that is formed though hardships and events in your life. In both stories they become men because of what their fathers do for them. Part of the last sentence in "Digging" is: "Yearning to be a man among men, and that is where my father sent me with a helmet on my head." This ending sentence summarizes both stories for me. The fathers duty is to help their sons become a man. Although it happened both directly and indirectly in the stories, it happened. Both the characters were boys that crossed over the threshold into manhood with the help of their fathers.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Short History of an Ear" and "Digging" the sons in the stories are both pushed by their fathers to achieve a goal. In "The Short History of an Ear," Mark Pearson joins the wrestling team, partially for his own enjoyment, but also to make his father proud of him. In "Digging," Andre Dubus is forced by his dad to get a job, and although he hates it, he doesn't want to disappoint his father by quitting. Both boys are constantly looking for their father’s approval. The implied theses are both about the relationship between fathers and sons. In "The Short History of an Ear," the thesis is, "But the truth is, as much joy and pride as there is between a father and a son, I don't know that I could endure much more of the unspoken pain that marks the lives of fathers and sons." He is making a point that the relationship that he shared with his father (his father always pushing him to be better) may have made his a better wrestlers, but it also left a lot of pain in their relationship. His argues that all fathers that pressure their sons will end up straining their relationship. "Digging," seems to me to have an almost opposite message. He ended the story by thanking his father for pushing him to work even when he wanted to quit. He says he now understands that his father pushed him in order to make him into a real man and that it was important for him to get a job. After getting a job, Andre said that he had become a man that he himself respected. Andre feels like his father forcing him to get a job made him into a man. The thesis of this story is that fathers should push their sons because it will ultimately make them into stronger better men. The organizing principals are very different. "The History of an Ear" isn't in chronological order. It's a series of events that all revolve around his ear, but they are in a mixed order. Most of "Digging," takes place in a short amount of time. It's mainly the story about him getting a job, although it does flash into the future sometimes. The universal messages of the stories both have to do with the pressure that parents put on their children to succeed. Everyone can relate to that. The particulars for each story are different though. Mark Pearson is pressured by his father to be a great wrestler, and Andre Dubus is pressured to get a job and become a real man.
ReplyDeleteThese two short stories are about the relationships between a father and a son. They talk about how relationships start and grow between the father and son. In both short stories, the fathers are supporting their child, although it may not seem like it. In the short story "Digging,' the boys father is making him do "mans work" because he loves his son. It might have seemed a bit harsh but it was for the sons best interest in the long run. Once the boy turns into a man, he looks back at his relationship with his father and he is glad that is father made him do that. It turned him into a man. In the other short story, "The Short History of an Ear," the boys father was different then most fathers. He supported the boy, Mark Pearson, at all times. He would get an old wrestling mat and wrestle with the his two sons. They would bond. The central even, in my opinion, in these two stories would have to be father-son relationships. At the time the boys may not have seen what their fathers were doing was always best, but the fathers did everything that they thought was best for their children. These two short stories are universal. Relationships between fathers and sons is universal, these type of relationships happen everywhere in the world. There is a sentence in "The Short History of an Ear" that talks about the 'unspoken pain' between fathers and sons. "But the truth is, as much joy and pride as there is between a father and a son, i don't know that I could endure much more of the unspoken pain that marks the lives of fathers and sons." 'Unspoken pain' happens to every father and son, at one time or another.
ReplyDelete"The Short History of an Ear" and "Digging" are similar in some ways and very different in other ways. One way the stories are the different is in their theses. In “The Short History of an Ear”, at the end of the story, you are left with the thought that Mark Pearson did not like his relationship with his father. But in “Digging” “It is time to thank my father for wanting me to work and telling me I had to work and getting the job for me and buying me lunch and a pith helmet instead of taking me home to my mother and sister”, the thesis is made clear that the author ended up liking and respecting his father because he sent him to work, and made him become a man. A different way that these stories are related is because they have nearly the same organizing principle. Both of these stories use the insertion of backstory to help organize and help the flow of their story. Also these stories share a universal versus particular element. In “The Short History of an Ear”, Mark Pearson says how he was one kid out of many kids that were wrestlers. While in the other story, Andre Dubus is also one child that was wimpy out of the other skilled children. But I believe in general that these two stories are similar because they both have the similar theses about father and son relationships. Another reason I believe they are similar is because they both have a story about perseverance. And finally they are similar because they both have a few universal and particular moments in each of the stories. In general they are more similar of stories than they are different.
ReplyDeleteThese two stories compare in ways because they are both talking about father and son relationships and in both stories the father supports the kids but in different ways.In "Digging" the father makes him do work like real work teaching him discipline, while also showing his love for him in a different way. While in "The Short Story of an Ear" he supported his son by being with him at all times and supporting him by wresting with with him and teaching him along the way. I believe both of these short stories are inductive because they start out telling something specifically about them selves then branching out in to talking about how it could relate to other people or ideas.
ReplyDeleteBoth of the main characters in the stories had complicated relationships with their fathers. In "The Short History of an Ear", the main character felt as though his relationship with his father was painful. In "Digging", the main character realized that his father was helping him become a man by making him work, and eventually the son appreciated it. There is a universal truth in both stories concerning how father and son relationships can be complicated and painful. However, it is slightly different in "Digging" because the main character realized his dad was tough on him for a reason. That is also a universal truth. The specific instances of the wrestling in "TSHOAE" and digging in "Digging" are particular to those stories. The theses of the stories both involve fathers, but they are different. The thesis of "THSOAE" is "But the truth is, as much joy and pride as there is between a father and a son, I don't know that I could endure much more of the unspoken pain that marks the lives of fathers and sons." The thesis of "Digging" is "Yearning to be a man among men, and that is where my father sent me with a helmet on my head." In the thesis of "Digging", the author is realizing how his father helped him to become a man, but in "TSHOAE", the author is realizing how glad he is that he doesn't have to have another painful father-son relationship. Overall, the theme of father-son relationships might be the same, but the way the authors deal with it is different.
ReplyDeleteBoth stories, "The Short History of an Ear" and "Digging" both clearly displays a relationship between father and son. In my opinion, the theses in these essays are very similar. TSHOAE explains that the father of Mark Pearson pushed him to pursue wrestling, which ended up in "...the unspoken pain that marks the lives of fathers and sons. It never ends." However, after reading the story, we realize that Mark Pearson is glad his father pushed him and caused him to take pride in his wrestling with his cauliflower ear. Whereas in "Digging", the father pushes the son, Andre Dubus, to get a job and work hard. Instead of letting Andre rest at home with the mother and sister, his father makes him work out. It seems that this (among other things) caused the tension between the father and son. In this story, we also realize that Andrew believes that a father pushing their child to do something helpful for them may seem to be a pain at first, but really pays off. Therefore, the implied theses of both stories are similar in that a father son relationship will also be strained with unspoken pain, however it's an appreciated pain because a good father would push the son to do better. The organizing principles are very different though. For TSHOAE, the organizing principle is centered around a current event: Mark Pearson is at the doctor's office getting a check up on his ear after getting it hit. From there, we go into backstory and we hear his past chronologically with some interjections from present day in between. However, the organizing principle for "Digging" doesn't start in the present, rather it starts when Andre was young and gradually progresses from there. Furthermore, the particular events of each story are very very different, yet the universal is the same underlying morale/thesis. Even though these two stories are entirely different in that one is about wrestling, one is about working, they both imply the same thesis (stated above). In my opinion, the only real outstanding different between these two stories is their particular details and organizing structure, but the similarity is very evident in the Truth, or the universal statement of both stories.
ReplyDeleteIn a brief paragraph, compare and contrast the father-son relationships in "The Short History of an Ear" and "Digging." What are the implied theses in the essays? Organizing principles? Universals and particulars? Are they similar/different? How? Please refer directly to the texts at least once in your response.
ReplyDeleteThe two short stories,"The Short Story of an Ear" and "Digging" are very similar in their overall themes. The stories are about the relationships between father and son. I would say the implied thesis of "The Short Story of an Ear" is said specifically in the text..."as much joy and pride as there is between a father and a son, I don't know that I could endure much more of the unspoken pain that marks the lives of fathers and sons. It never ends." this is saying that fathering a son is very hard but still rewarding. In "Digging" there is an implied thesis that working helps you grow up and that a dad's job is to make the hard decisions that will make his son grow up. These are all universal themes described by specific examples, the injury of an hurt ear and a boys first job.
These two pieces have a very similar central message, however they had very different tones. "Digging" seemed to have more of a tone of gratitude for his father, whereas "The Short History of an Ear" seems to have a more of a regretful tone. The particular in "Digging" was about his hat and his father turning him into a man. The particular in "The Short History of an Ear" was about his ear and his wrestling experiences. They both have the universal theme of a son wanting to please his father, but they both achieve it in different way. In "The Short History of an Ear" he must earn his father's approval by being good at wrestling, but he realizes that if he were given the chance, he would not repeat that with his own child. He seems to look upon the father- son relationship as one with a deep unspoken pain. On the other hand, in "Digging" he talks about how he can now empathize with his father and he is now very thankful for the experience his father forced him to have. His thesis focuses on how his father pushed him to be who he was, but the thesis in "The Short History of an Ear" focuses more on his feelings of pain in his relationship with his father.
ReplyDeleteThe father-son relationships "The Short History of an Ear" and "Digging" seem similar, but are actually different. For starters, Dr. Pearson, actually wants to do what his dad wants him to do. In "Digging," the main character is very reluctant at first to go to the job his father got him. At the end, both characters switch their opinions from what they thought before. In "The Short History of an Ear," although not said explicitly, Dr. Pearson feels pressured by his father and doesn't like how the relationship turns out. Andre Dubius specifically tells us in "Digging" that he is glad his father signed him up for the job and is happy with his relationship with his father. In these essays, both theses are about father-son relationships; in "Digging," it is that a father-son relationship may have hard times, but it is all for the better. Specifically, he says, "It is time to thank my father for telling me to work..." In Dr. Pearson's essay, the implied thesis would be that father-son relationships like his are full of pressure that is straining. The organizing principles are also different. "Digging" is told like a classic story, chronologically, which fits the story because all of the important events happen in order. "The Short History of an Ear," on the other hand, is written chronologically, but has frequent flashback interjections that pertain to the story. In terms of Universals and particulars, both are pretty much the same. Both use a story specific to them that could have occurred elsewhere, but is really unique to them, to illustrate an important everyday relationship that almost everybody in the world has and takes part in.
ReplyDeleteThe short stories "The Short Story of an Ear" and "Digging," both focus strongly on the relationship with father and son, and how they change as people grow up. In "The Short Story of an Ear," the thesis of the story is "the unspoken pain that marks the lives of fathers and sons," which shows how fathers and sons live in relation to each other. In "Digging," the implied thesis is about how fathers have to make tough desicions to help their sons turn into men. Both stories use the same organizing principle: backstory; they go from the present to past, telling us about the events before what is occurring "now." Both stories have universal themes, which would be about a son's relationship his with father. The particular themes were how one was about a father making a decision to help someone grow up, while the other was about how painful father-son relationships can be, but both still are under the category of the relationship between a father and his son.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBoth stories are similar in their organization principles, their theses, and their universal idea, but they are different in the particular examples and their relationships with their father. In both stories, the father is pushing their son to do certain things for different reasons. In "The Short History of an Ear," the father is pushing his son to wrestle although the son is reluctant to wrestle. In "Digging," the father makes his son get a job and work as a trench digger, which he is also reluctant to do at first. The only difference in the outcome is that in "The Short History of an Ear," the son is grateful that his father pushed him, but he never really feels that him and his father had a loving relationship. He describes it as, "the unspoken pain that marks the lives of fathers and sons." In "Digging," the son realizes his father made him get a job to make him more of a man, and he is grateful for it. Also, you can tell that he feels some form of love from his father when he describes his fathers voice as," a voice softened with pride." The implied theses of these two stories are very similar in the way that both of their fathers push them to do some form of physical labor to become more of a man, and in the end they are grateful for it. The organizing principles are similar as well. Both stories intertwine the current story and back story to show a universal idea. For example, in TSSOAE, the son is telling the story of getting his ear drained, but he keeps going back to his earlier years as a boy to tell why he is getting his ear drained. In "Digging," the son tells us about a story in his earlier years as a boy, but he tells us other parts of his life in backstory to help explain his story about his job. In their current stories and back stories, they use a lot of particular examples to help show a universal idea, the relationships between a father and son. In TSSOAE, the son uses wrestling as his story, and in "Digging," the son uses his job as story.
ReplyDeleteThe implied theses in these essays "The Short History of an Ear" and "Digging" both relate to the relationship between father and son. The one in "The Short History of an Ear" focuses on how sons want to make their fathers proud, while "Digging" shows that fathers sometimes have to be hard on their sons, whether they want to or not, to help them grow up. This event of a father making his son do something, not because he wants to but because he knows it will help him mature, is illustrated well in the last paragraph of "Digging" when the narrator says, "He may have wanted to take me home. But he knew he must not. . ."."Digging" is mostly told chronologically, while "The Short History of an Ear" is told in a nonlinear fashion, moving back and forth between one continuous backstory and several scenes that occur in years after the backstory. In "Digging" the particular is illustrated by focusing on the specific story of the narrator's first day working, but its universal theme is that sometimes things that are difficult are not terrible, and they are bearable because they are necessary. "The Short History of an Ear" focuses on one specific event as well as various scenes that relate back to that event. In telling these stories, the essay also gradually shows the relationship between the narrator and his father, and the narrator's drive to not let his father down, which is a universal theme. These two essays take the same general theme, the relationship between a father and his son, but look at it from different angles to prove different theses that still are both universally true.
ReplyDeleteThe father-son relationship in the stories, "The Short History of an Ear" and "Digging" are portrayed in slightly different ways, but still have the same overall message. In the story "The Short History of an Ear" I think the relationship with his father was not as string as the one with the boy from "Digging". For example, the man in TSHOAE ("The Short History of an Ear") understands more about parenting once he becomes a father himself. On page 67 of the packet it says, "The only wrestling I do anymore is with my daughters on the living room rug. They think it's great fun to jump on my back and get caught in the bear trap of my legs." This quote accurately portrays his role as a father because it makes him think about all that he has been through; the incident with his ear. His thesis, which he is arguing about the whole time, is that as much pride and joy as there is between a father and son, it is hard to ignore the "unspoken pain" that they do not confront. The organizing principles are the stories of his childhood, and his boxing as child interwoven with stories that are currently happening. (Backstory) Some universals in this piece are when he is talking about his father having Alzheimer's disease; and, the way he worshiped his father like most sons. The particulars are how his ear affected him personally; and his personal relationship with his father. The two stories are similar in the sense that both authors have an underlying message about father-son relationships; but, different because their stories are no the same. In the story "Digging" an implied thesis is that a good father makes his son work and learn how to take care of himself; even if at the time it doesn't seem important. I think this is a key point in the story because at the time, the boy doesn't seen to fully understand why his father is making him work at such a young age. As he matures he comprehends that his fathers kind action made him feel initiated into manhood. The organizing principle in this story is awfully similar to the one in TSHOAE, the idea that the narrator is telling stories from the past and present. (backstory) The universal idea is lesson learned from a father is always valuable, even if it doesn't seem like it at the time. The particular is the way his father made him "mature" into a man. The example he uses is when he works digging the foundation for a building.
ReplyDeleteIn both short stories, there's a classic case of fathers pushing sons to help them to do something they missed out on in their lives or things that they believed made them into a better man. In TSHOAE, the main character's father pushes him to do wrestling to make him get cauliflower ear. In the long run, he realizes that this is a symbol of pride in the wrestling world and ends up being thankful for his father. In "Digging", the main character's father pushes him to get a job over the summer to "turn him into a man". You know this is the reason when the dad drops him off and says "make a main out of him". The implied theses of these stories is that the father-son relationship is always harsh, but ends up well in the long run. In the "TSHOAE", the narrator's form of organizing principle is jumping around the timeline but jumping around the story. In "Digging", the principle is the chronological order of his relationship and what his father did for him when he was young. The universals are the son's trying to please their fathers. The particular in each story is what exactly which fathers did what for their son. Being a daughter, I've never had to have the pressure of living up to the standards of my father although I strive to please him.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"The Short History of an Ear" and "Digging" are very contrasting stories, but they both talk about a child's relationship with their father. The stories show that although the relationship have good factors, it can also have
ReplyDeletesome bad. For example, in the ear story, the father expects his son to be a wrestler because the father himself was a wrestler. This has to be a lot of pressure for the kid. The digging story revolves around a father teaching his son to become an independent adult, a necessity for every kid. The implied thesis in "Digging", in my opinion, is:
"And I would have spent the summer at home, nestled in the love of two women, peering at my father's face, and yearning to be someone I respected, a varsity business man, a halfback, someone cheerleaders and majorettes and pretty scholars loved; yearning to be a man among men, and that is where my father sent me with the helmet on my head."
The implied thesis in "The Short History of an Ear", in my opinion, is:
"But, the truth is, as much joy and pride as there is between a father and a son, I don't know that I could endure much more of the unspoken pain that marks the lives of fathers and sons. It doesn't end."
The organizing principle in the two stories are also different. The organizing principle in "Digging" is comparing what the father is making his son do to the things the son actually wants to do. At the end, they finally connect. The organizing principle in "The Short History of an Ear" is changing from the past to the present throughout the story. The past is when he was his life experiences when he was a kid and then the story would switch to the present and show how that experience effected him. Both have universal and particular comments. "Digging" is universal because most fathers want their kids to grow up by getting a summer job, but particular because of the specific job his father gave him. "The Short History of an Ear" is universal because most kids feel pressure from their fathers to be he was, but particular because they were wrestlers verse anything else. As mentioned above they are both similar and different. The relationships in the stories are just different. The two stories "The Short History of an Ear" and "Digging" are very interesting stories that really show some of the boundaries in father son relationships.
These essays tell of the relationships between father and son. In The Short History of an Ear (TSHE), by Dr. Pearson, There is no real organization shown. There are many flash backs from the time of the event and parts that are in the current time, but they are centered on the draining of Dr. Pearson’s ear. In Digging, by Andre Dubus, the story is centered on the work that his father made him do. There are sometimes when he flashes forward to current time, but most of the story is about the work and what it did for him. In TSHE, the particulars tell of how his ear was ruined by wrestling, and that is still a problem for him. The universals of this story are that he spent so much time doing the thing he loved, and lost his possibility in continuing this dream in only a few seconds. In Digging, the particulars tell of how his father made a man of him through hard construction work. The universal is that a good amount of hard work with other men can make you a man. In TSHE, Dr. Pearson had a good relationship with his father. His father would help him progress in his wrestling achievement, and he would learn life with him and his brother. They did not have any fights. In Digging, the author and his father had a good relationship. He would listen to his father, follow orders and not disrespect him. They never got into fights because he was not accustomed to having his father angry with him. When his father sent him off to do hard work, he did not want to disappoint his father by not being able to do the work with the pickaxe and shovel. When he did the work instead of giving up, he gained his father’s pride and proved himself a man. HE became the man that other people want to be.
ReplyDeleteIn the short stories, The Short History of an Ear (Mark Pearson) and
ReplyDeleteDigging (Andre Dubas), each author portrays a certain father-son relationship. In The Short History of an Ear, the thesis is the silent pain that represents Dr. Pearson’s relationship with his father. Digging explains why a father pushes his son to do “something terrible.” The son should be grateful for the drive that his father gave him. He should also be thankful for everything that his father did for him growing up. No matter how excruciating it might have been, the father knew that he was making his son a man. TSHOAE revolves around Dr. Pearson’s doctor’s appointment. From there, his back-story begins chronologically with his childhood until he is wrestling with his own little girls in their living room.
In Digging, Dubas lets his audience know what kind of relationship he has with his father. Then he tells a story of what his father did to benefit his life. “Universally,” most would suppose that an injury of a small body part would not affect you much. However, Dr. Pearson explains how quickly his ear enervated many aspects of life. In Digging, “universally” in America, no black workers participated with white men (or vice versa). Nonetheless, in this short story, the black men encourage Dubas to work hard and be happy to be at the construction site. Both short stories are similar because of their conclusion paragraphs. IN TSHOAE, Pearson elucidates about how he has “no sons of [his] own to teach wrestling the way [his] father taught [him].” He wrote how much joy there was between him and his father. This relates to Digging because Dubas thanks his father respectfully for sending him to work “with a helmet on [his]
head.”
The farther-son relationships in "The Short History of an Ear" and "Digging" are crucial to the plot. The implied theses are fathers turn you into men through making you work hard and challenging you to be better. In both stories the authors use backstory to demonstrate how much their fathers influenced them and the representation of their relationships. The stories are different because in TSHOE their are many back stories that depict the father-son relationship and in Digging their is one main back story that is stuck to that represents the relationships. The backstory of Digging is that the author was pushed by his father to get a job. This job was particularly hard and at the time he was upset his father made him do it. In the end the son thanks his father for making him a man, the seemingly impossible job turns into a key component to his growing up. The father helps his son to get on the way by buying him a hat his first day along with a sandwich and a drink. The backstory in TSHOE is the father pushes his son to be a better wrestling and to be good at everything he does. He shows this by having a wrestling mat in the living room of their house. The father in Digging shows the universal by saying to the foreman, "Make a man of him." Although it seems like a particular situation this state represents all father son relationships, they are hard on their sons to make them into men. They still have compassion though because he buys his son a hat to help get through work on his own. In TSHOE the father is hard on his son so that he will be better. He wants his son to succeed and practices with him weekly to make him a better wrestler and to teach him responsibility and good work ethic. All of these are key ingredients to being a man.
ReplyDeleteIn the short stories "The Short History of an Ear" and "Digging," Dr. Pearson and Andre Dubas, respectively, use inductive reasoning to imply similar theses that a father plays an important role in turning his son into a man. However, the authors go about proving this universal thesis using their own particular elements of the story. For instance, Dr. Pearson's organizing principle is to use backstory to explain different events with his father interspersed with stories of the present. Dubas' organizing principle is that he tells one long chronological story about his relationship with his dad, focusing on the summer when he made him get his job. In both stories the boys seem to hold their dads in high regard; they show a universal theme of boys wanting to please their dads. In TSHOE he carries on his dad's dream of wrestling; in "Digging" he goes to the summer job and keeps working even after he has thrown up, not wanting to disappoint his father. It may seem like he is just scared to make his father mad, but I think Dubas is using this particular feeling to show how universally fear and respect may not always be separate things. Just as both boys respect their fathers, both fathers are hard on their boys. Dr. Pearson claims that his father went harder on him in wrestling practice than his brother, and Dubas' father makes him work manual labor in the summer Lousiana heat. Both of these particular stories show how universally, fathers will be tough with their boys in order to teach them values and make them go through experiences that will turn them into men. Ironically, it is this act that might make the boys lose just enough respect for their father in order for them to stop idolizing them and become their own person. I think one major difference between the two stories is each son's opinion about how his father was tough on him. While Dubas ends the story with thanking his father help him become a man (he feels that "it is time to thank my father,") Dr. Pearson still seems to be coming to terms with his dad's expectations, referring to it as "the unspoken pain between a father and son."
ReplyDelete