The Man Who Finds That His Son Has Become A Thief Poem Analysis

Though the themes of The Child Who Walks Backwards and The Man Who Finds That His Son Has Become A Thief overlap, with parenting playing a large role, the two also vary greatly. Both poems allude to ideas of sudden realization, nature versus nurture, and loss of trust. They are also both told from a separate perspective than that of the subject, a method of narration which often reveals that there is often more than meets the eye.

Lorna Crozier’s The Child Who Walks Backwards, seemingly a narrative about a clumsy child, proves to carry a much darker undertone. Throughout the poem, the narrator’s suspicions grow as the alleged accidents increase in severity and frequency, leading one to believe they are being fabricated. These accidents are described through vivid imagery, such as “Cupboard corners and door knobs / have pounded their shapes / into his face” (3-5) and

Though the father is initially in a state of blind rage and disbelief, these emotions change progressively. Consequently, his emotions, shrouded by the faith and certainty in his son, likely cause him to blame himself for his boy’s actions. As the stanzas develop, and new evidence is brought to light, the father begins to feel suffocated by a newfound fear and disappointment. This fear is present in most parents, as their children are a direct reflection of them and their parenting skills. A sense of defeat consumes him, as exhibited by the hyperbole found in lines 11-12, “...Unmistakable odor of guilt / Which seeps now into the mind and lays its poison.” This exaggeration serves to show how deeply this incident has affected the father. Furthermore, while the connotations of the term “thief” seem obscure, one could argue that it does not simply refer to the literal meaning. It may also concern the stolen innocence of trust between the