This poem highlights every parent's fear of the day they will lose their child. Lee utilizes a tone of despair and heartbreak throughout this poem. The man understands that he hasn't provided all he could for his child and remains hopeful that his child will never abandon him. However reality sets in as his child is packing his clothes and preparing for departure. Here we see the author’s tone of despair as he states.”Don't go! Hear the alligator story! The angel story once more! You love the spider story. You laugh at the spider. Let me tell it!” In this scene, the author is pleading to his son not to abandon him. Despite this, the boy seems unfazed as the author states,” But the boy is packing his shirts, he is looking for his keys.” As a result, Lee utilizes this tone of distress and fear to express the man’s true feelings towards his son's departure. Lee…show more content… Although this piece provides the point of the son, the father is clearly the dominant figure in this piece. Lee labels the father’s perspective throughout this piece as uneasy and terrified of the fact that he will one day lose his son. The father knows he hasn't done his best to care for his son. We see this when he says,” In a room full of books in a world/ Of stories, he can recall/ Not one.” As the boy is planning to leave his father, we get a glimpse of his perspective of the situation as indifferent and disappointing in his father. As the father sees this unfold he clearly seems frustrated as he states” Are you a god, the man screams, that I sit mute before you?” Am I a god that I should never disappoint?” The father takes a defensive stance as he accuses his son of comparing him to a god and expecting perfection out of him. Despite the father”s perspective fluctuating throughout this poem, it reinforces the importance of obtaining knowledge and spreading it to the future
