In her poem, Clifton felt angry and bitter toward her father because she was put in the middle of a difficult marital relationship. She realizes that her father was the son of a needy father. The daughter felt though as the father was raised in a household he had created for their own family and so she realized it was not quite his fault. Toward the end of the poem, the daughter began to gradually forgive her financially irresponsible and emotionally abusive father. Clifton used this poem to portray the complexity of the family relationships and the compounding effects of poverty. She characterized him as: “daddy, old pauper, old prisoner, and old dead man” (Clifton, 20). The author used words like bills, payday, rich, due, pocket, bargain, …show more content…
Not everyone is born rich or made to be rich. Odd things happen to everyone’s life. In my culture, every house starts with brothers living together and then separate when they are married. My father was told to live by his own and raise his family however he wants. Things fell apart when you have no sense of how to raise family and you never went to purchase anything before from markets or you have financially hardship right after. I was about between 4-5 years of age and whenever I asked to purchase any toy or specific food from markets I was told to shut up and sit back. I hated my father by that time because this was happening again and again. First, I didn’t have those common senses I have today. Especially now I know how to make money and how easy it is to make and run your family with that money instead of using on yourself. So, I seriously hated my father but loved him more than anything else in my life when I grew big and noticed his challenging work to make everything work until today. Am in U.S because of my father’s hard work, his behavior and respect towards others. No matter what happened there was no lack of food into my house. My father never went to any school. Life style was depended on the land my grandfather gave to my father to work