"My Papa's Waltz" Poem Analysis Class Discussion

           The first time I read this poem I thought it was about a father abusing his child from him under the influence of alcohol. This is from the use of the author's language that makes it contradictory from their being more than one meaning people can interpret. The "waltz" in this poem is referring to the harsh dancing the father is forcing on the child. In the first stanza, there is a forceful tone from the child having to hang on like death to stay in motion with his dad. The child is also dizzy from the strong whiskey on his dad's breath and it is hard for him to stay up while his dad is also sloppy from being drunk. Then comes the part in stanza two, where the pans are falling from the kitchen shelf and the mother is frowning. It sounds like the child is being banged into the shelf from the father swinging him around. The mother's expression exemplifies the tone of harshness more by her facial expression being frowned from her mind also being frowned, or in disbelief. Her being in disbelief suggests that what has been done can't be undone and she is in total anger and or frightened from this happening. The tone of the father's appearance helps better understand the speaker's experience by the "hand caked hard by dirt" being kind of threatening to make it seem like this child was frightened by this and went along with the dance routine to get less abused. If the father would miss a step, then the child would slip and hit his ear on the dad's belt buckle. The belt buckle could be expressing the whipping a child gets for being naughty and be used in the poem as a hint for abusing by the father. Also the beating time over the child's head with a palm caked hard by dirt could be a hint for the dad beating the kid over the head from being so drunk. The palm caked hard by dirt could also be a hint of threat the dad holds.
           When I found out that the author's dad died when he was 14, I interpreted the poem in a whole new way. Now I see it as the father coming home from an exhausting day of work and sitting down to eat dinner. He has some whiskey as he eats and get drunk from drinking too much. Then the child comes out wanting to play with his father and they start dancing around the kitchen. They are kind of rough housing as they dance and slip occasionally from the father losing balance, or the kid being dizzy. When they slip, they hit into the kitchen shelf and made pans slid down onto the floor. The mother is frowning from this from the fact that they are making a mess of the kitchen, but she also finds this dancing amusing. Every once in a while the father would miss a step and make the child hit his ear on the father's belt buckle. This beating time on the child's head with a palm caked hard by dirt is referring to the father taking time out of the child's play time with him to be out working. Then once the father is too tired to go on, he dances the child along into bed while the child is gripping on his shirt. The child does this while pleading to stay up longer to have fun, but the father makes him go to bed.

Poem Analysis of "Early in the Morning" by Li Young Li

           This poem shows a mother who gets up early before the birds do to prepare breakfast for the family. The son's father carefully watches as his wife brushes an ivory comb through her hair, heavy and black as calligrapher's ink. She is sitting at the foot of a bed as she does this while the father watches and listens for music the comb makes as it goes against the hair. As the mother has done for half a hundred years, she puts her hair back in a bun and the father likes this look and thinks it is kempt. The son knows that his father enjoys the hair like this the most because of the way it falls out like a curtain when unpinned.

           The ivory comb going through the calligrapher's ink colored hair is a contrast between how dark the hair is compared to the color of the comb. The calligrapher's ink shows that the family has knowledge and love for each other, from the ink being contrasted with the hair and the hair symbolizes the family. Calligraphy is the art of beautiful hand writing, so it makes sense that it would mean the family is inteligent and loving from it being contrasted with it. The music of the comb against the mother's hair shows great level of attention from the dad since the comb doesn't actually make music. Putting back the mother's hair shows a ritual in the family as time goes on. The rituals are liked and worthy of doing from the family's perspective. As the pins are being pulled out of the hair and it falls down like a curtain, it symbolizes the family being open to each other and helping each other out. The poem "Early in the Morning" by Li Young Li, portrays a father carefully examining his wife's hair with it's calligrapher's ink color and music it makes when an ivory comb goes through it and reveals that knowledge and loving families help each other out and keep rituals to be organized and efficient.

Sheet of Connections

Small, but amazing.

I stare now curiously

with thoughts on my mind.

With its crystal like

structure falling slowly down.

Each one is unique.

When looked at for long

you go into a daze like

faze and stand inert.

Such small structures can

combine together to make

a sheet on the ground.

I step on the sheet.

It leaves an imprint of me.

We are connected.

Comparisons in King Dork to the Catcher in the Rye

           In the book, King Dork Tom Henderson related many things to Catcher in the Rye through his eyes in his own life. One thing that really annoyed Tom was the fact that teachers always made their students read the Catcher in the Rye. The reason was that Tom didn't like the way that Holden Caulfield portrayed himself as a character and the world around him. Also that every English teacher in his school was so fond of Holden and found him very inspiring. The thing that is ironic about this is the fact that Tom is very similar in the ways that Holden is as a character. An example is both of their views of the society around them. Tom feels inferior to others and isolates himself from mostly everyone from him feeling that they are threats to him by bullying or treating him with lower rank. Holden isolates himself from the world from him feeling that mostly everyone around him are phonies and stays away from growing up to not become corrupt in adulthood. Tom has a difficulty of connecting with peers because of him having a reputation of a "King of all dorks", so he feels like he can't talk to others from the inferiority. Holden has a difficulty also because of the isolation he has put himself in by not wanting to get sucked into the phoniness and the curruptness of being an adult. Tom's younger sister hasn't shown much fondness to Tom until he entered the Festival of Lights, which she supported him by making posters and praising him to become more noticed. Holden's sister has always been very passionate and caring for Holden to help him overcome the fear of becoming an adult and open up to society. Tom's mom hasn't really been there for him very much by not telling him the truth behind his fathers death and relating to his problems to help him out. Holden's parents have barely been there for him to help encourage him to do well in school and sent him off to schools that he didn't want to attend.