We Did Not Fear The Father Essay

The Dark Truth In the contemporary world, a person’s success is usually determined by their job and because of this social norm, most of one’s life is spent attempting to live up to this expectation. Individuals possess vast dreams to hold highly ranked jobs and be content while doing so. However, the harsh reality is that people do not always necessarily meet society’s definition of “success.” There are several factors as to why, under certain circumstances, one cannot hold an affluent occupation and be prolific. In accordance to the poems regarding this notion, labor is portrayed in a negative manner where success cannot be won. For example, in “We Did Not Fear the Father,” by Charles Fort, the severity of toil is explored. In “What Work

Some jobs that deem one as eminent are simply too tough to accomplish. Fort displays the idea that the father in the poem works at a horrendous job where he, “left the factory floor with oil and sawdust inside his mouth” (line 21); this supports the idea that decent paying jobs are far too arduous to acquire, thus making it nearly unmanageable to meet society’s standard of success. In this example, the father will not meet modern-day requirements that define success because of the strains of his job that make him want to relax without the stress of work. Furthermore, in “The Mill,” Edwin Arlington Robinson illustrates a figurative interpretation of the brutality under certain work related circumstances. Robinson, through the lens of Psychoanalytic Criticism, explains that, “what was hanging from a beam” (line 15), was a tempered man who committed suicide because he was unable to meet society’s ideals of being successful. His job disappeared because technology advanced and jobs at mills were no longer needed. As the severity of work is important to consider when looking at factors that halts one from being prosperous, the embarrassment work can potentially produce additionally can be