Depending on a person’s personality, background, mindset, etc. Some people can look at things entirely differently from another. Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papas Waltz”, is an excellent example. The poem is a sweet story about a young child dancing with their father. You could interpret it as a parent abusing their child.
The poem depicts a young boy “waltzing” around his house with dad while his upset mother looks on. Textual evidence suggests that this is a happy and fun story about a child enjoying himself with his father. Roethke’s first line concludes that the little boy is a child with a drunken dad, but the poem continues to reveal that he has not been violently drunk. In the end, it is clear that he was young. He is creating memories with the kid in his house. Some people consider “drunkness” to be a negative term. It is not necessary to be drunk in order to abuse your child. Many people, even when drunk, can tell the difference between right and incorrect. The reader can gain an understanding of what is happening in the last lines. The narrator remembers, “I hung like death/such waltzing wasn’t easy”. The narrator recalls “I hung on like death / such waltzing was not easy”. The boy was simply trying not to fall off of his drunken father’s clumsy steps.
The title is another clue. If someone was constantly beaten, they wouldn’t call their father “papa”. You would use the word father or a similar, plainer term. “Papa”, a word that is used by many children to describe their dads, is a similar term. “Father”, on the other hand, is a generic and bland word. When people are abused, they often forget that their father is not their father. By using sentimental phrases, you show him that you care and understand. The reader gets a deeper understanding of the situation in the middle stanzas. They are running around the kitchen, causing havoc and destroying shelves as they dance. The line “My mother’s face / couldn’t unfrown” explains how the mother was angry, but didn’t say anything. The term countenance describes facial expression. She was upset about the damage to her kitchen, but could not stop her sons from having a good time. Things get more confusing in the middle stanza. The narrator explains, “The right ear of my right hand scraped against a buckle every time you missed your step”. This can be interpreted in two different ways depending on how the reader interprets the rest of this poem. The story can be interpreted in two ways.
Many jobs are not for the faint of heart. Everyone who has worked outdoors at a labor job knows that their hands are not the prettiest. The hands are smashed, ripped apart and covered in dirt. After a long workday, his father hasn’t been able to wash up and spend time with the family. The reader can also see that the boy’s age is evident. The boy’s age would be determined by his standing on the dad’s foot and being only waist high (ears at the belt). Readers can tell that drunken dads have a difficult time keeping up with their child. The boy is swaying his body to balance his father, and every time he stumbles he barely misses the dad’s belt. The belt was never taken off the dad’s waist. He didn’t even try to hit his son with it. By the end of the story, the reader is able to conclude that it’s not a frightening tale. The boy closes the poem saying “My dad “…beat on my Head”. The boy’s father tapped his son on the head to keep time with the music as they danced. While drunk, he still managed to keep a rhythm and dance. At the end, they danced into the boy’s bedroom so that he could sleep him.
Roethke makes clear at the end that the boy has no fear of his father. He is a loving son who cherishes his time with his father. It is clear that this story is happy when the author writes that he was waltzed into his room to sleep. Even if a dad walked his child to their room after hitting him, it would be a sign of care and compassion. It is a show of compassion and care to put your child to bed. Even when his son is drunk, the dad still loves him.
Theodore Roethke’s “My Papas Waltz”, a poem about a son’s evening with his father, is a confusing piece. The poem was a mixture of a dark, abusive tale and a light, happy one. The reader will be able to tell, after studying the story and understanding it, that this story is not one of abuse. Textual evidence shows that the story is one of joy and happiness. From the title up to the very last line, you can tell that the story is a happy and joyful one.