Our Son Cowards Of Water In His Body By Naomi Shihab Nye

During the teenage years, many think that they know everything and no one else is correct. In the poem “Our Son Swears He Has 102 Gallons of Water in His Body,” by Naomi Shihab Nye, the speaker tells about how a boy thinks his opinion is correct and the opinions of his parents are wrong. The boy, because he believed his answer was correct, didn’t have a close connection to his parents. Being reassured of his answer by the teacher, the boy disregarded his parent’s thoughts. He completely does not believe that his parent’s answer is acceptable. The speakers explain, “His mother never remembers / what a megabyte means on his dad fainted on an airplane once / and smashed his head on the drinks cart” (Nye 10, 11, 12). Reasonable points are given on why the parents aren’t trustworthy. The boy wants the parent’s evidence in order to persuade him to even consider their answer. He insists that his parents are “idiots without worksheets to back [them] up” (Nye 9, 10). Without the evidence, the opinion of his parents cannot be right. Because he thinks this way, the boy wouldn’t ever grow close to his parents.

The boy thinks that he is right because his teacher told him that his equation is was correct. The boy told them that “[he] did the problem / and [his] teacher said that [he] was right” (Nye 3, 4). Because he had someone to tell him he was correct, he thought that his parents must have been the one that didn’t do their math correctly. Although the boy doesn’t understand that he should listen to his parents, they were once a family that dealt with each other. The speaker talks about “an old metal cup [that they] took camping” (Nye 17). This camping trip shows that the family could be together. Even though the boy doesn’t really like his parents, his parents understand