Reader-Response Critique
Last Name 1
Student Name
Professor Westrick
English Composition II
January 26, 2018
Professor Westrick
English Composition II
January 26, 2018
Reader-Response Essay on My Papa's Waltz: Relationships
In a writer-literature-audience relationship, the audience is the filter through which the message is interpreted. In the poem by Theodore Roethke, My Papa’s Waltz, a young boy described a dance with his father that can be alternatively discussed as physical abuse or harmless father-son bonding. The intended audience, children who played roughly with their fathers, would see things differently from those who didn’t. My view is a mixture of both interpretations.
The audience of this poem is anyone who has fond memories of their father. The poem was told from the perspective of the son. The narrator described how he “hung on like death” (line 3 page 706) while he and his father waltzed and that by the time he was being taken to bed, he was “Still clinging to [his father’s] shirt” (line 16). A feeling of attachment between the narrator and his father was evident. There was potential for bias, as a young child may not remember events exactly, but the child loved his father nevertheless. A person who has felt similar attachment to their father, perhaps through play wrestling or sports, will likely begin to reminisce and relate to the boy in the poem.
In contrast to the nostalgic take perceived by the intended audience, many readers of My Papa’s Waltz may see a darker story within the figurative language. The father was referred to as drunk during the dance and had “whiskey on [his] breath” (line 1). The narrator and his father waltz to the point of causing a mess as “pans/Slid from the kitchen shelf” (lines 5-6) and the narrator’s “mother’s countenance” (line 7) signified her disapproval. A drunk father handling a child has bad implications no matter the context. One line, “You beat time on my head…” (line 13), gives the impression that the father is abusing the child by hitting him on the head or, in a more positive look, that he is simply beating time. The use of the word “beat” leans more toward a negative meaning than positive.
After reading the poem multiple times, I have come to interpret the relationship between the father and the son as bittersweet. The child may be an example of an unreliable narrator because he is too immature to understand what is going on. The boy wants to spend time with his father, but the father may have been too drunk to handle a child in a safe manner at the time. The father having a bruised knuckle and caked, dirty hands, made me think he may be a laborer of some kind. The events in this poem may be all the time this father has with his son.
If the intended audience is not interpreting the literary work, differing perspectives are created. The imagery of an alcoholic father may be unsettling to some readers, but the eagerness of the son to dance and play with his father may reflect a wonderful memory to others. I see a child that loves his father through all his faults. Even if a reader is not the intended audience, a contrasting perspective gives the work more layers.
The audience of this poem is anyone who has fond memories of their father. The poem was told from the perspective of the son. The narrator described how he “hung on like death” (line 3 page 706) while he and his father waltzed and that by the time he was being taken to bed, he was “Still clinging to [his father’s] shirt” (line 16). A feeling of attachment between the narrator and his father was evident. There was potential for bias, as a young child may not remember events exactly, but the child loved his father nevertheless. A person who has felt similar attachment to their father, perhaps through play wrestling or sports, will likely begin to reminisce and relate to the boy in the poem.
In contrast to the nostalgic take perceived by the intended audience, many readers of My Papa’s Waltz may see a darker story within the figurative language. The father was referred to as drunk during the dance and had “whiskey on [his] breath” (line 1). The narrator and his father waltz to the point of causing a mess as “pans/Slid from the kitchen shelf” (lines 5-6) and the narrator’s “mother’s countenance” (line 7) signified her disapproval. A drunk father handling a child has bad implications no matter the context. One line, “You beat time on my head…” (line 13), gives the impression that the father is abusing the child by hitting him on the head or, in a more positive look, that he is simply beating time. The use of the word “beat” leans more toward a negative meaning than positive.
After reading the poem multiple times, I have come to interpret the relationship between the father and the son as bittersweet. The child may be an example of an unreliable narrator because he is too immature to understand what is going on. The boy wants to spend time with his father, but the father may have been too drunk to handle a child in a safe manner at the time. The father having a bruised knuckle and caked, dirty hands, made me think he may be a laborer of some kind. The events in this poem may be all the time this father has with his son.
If the intended audience is not interpreting the literary work, differing perspectives are created. The imagery of an alcoholic father may be unsettling to some readers, but the eagerness of the son to dance and play with his father may reflect a wonderful memory to others. I see a child that loves his father through all his faults. Even if a reader is not the intended audience, a contrasting perspective gives the work more layers.
Bibliography
Roethke, Theodore. “My Papa's Waltz.” Roberts, Edgar V. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, Compact Edition (6th Edition), Pearson, 2014, p. 706.