ipl-logo

Diction And Juxtaposition In 'A Story' By Li-Young Lee

589 Words3 Pages

A Story In the poem, A Story, Li-Young Lee uses specific diction and juxtaposition to reveal the affection the father and son have for each other as well as the fears behind a changing relationship. This complex relationship between the father and the son is depicted throughout the boy’s adjourn for a new story. The poem is written through the juxtaposition of the father: the father in the present and the father’s prediction of the future. In the present the father and his son have a strong emotional bond between each other. When the boy asks for a story, the father “...rubs his chin, scratches in ear…” in an effort to conjure up a story his son would enjoy. The action in itself reflects the strong love and endearment he has for his child; a lot of thoughts are devoted to make a story. However, he can recall not one story and the father’s thoughts diverge from thinking of a captivating story, to the future he is dreadful for: “...soon, he thinks, the boy will give up on his father”. …show more content…

His five-year-old son refers to the father as “Baba”, a word filled with the boy’s entreaty towards his father as he asks for a story. However, he is later portrayed as a “...boy [who] is packing his shirts, [and] looking for his keys”. He is no longer portrayed as the five year old son, but as a grown man. However, the boy still adores his father, and the word “Baba” remains a huge role in the son’s life; it is used to express his love for his father and to ask for stories, he highly looks forward to. Despite the fear that his son will leave him one day, the relationship between the father and his son is an “...emotional rather than logical equation, an earthly rather than heavenly one…”. It is composed of “...a boy’s supplication and a father’s love add[ing] up to silence”; a silence that is filled with love for each

Show More
Related

  • Li-Young Lee A Story Analysis

    786 Words  | 4 Pages

    (Line 3) Clearly, the boy is still youthful in this situation. He begins to beg his father to tell him a story. His father, saddened by lack of a story, struggles to figure out something to tell the boy. The man then notes his fear that if he fails to tell his son stories, he will leave his father.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Julie Otsuka's When The Emperor Was Divine

    1684 Words  | 7 Pages

    While the child was feeling down; instead of picking her son up, the mother scolds her child “[reminding] him, once again, not to shout out in public. And never to speak with his mouth full” and his sister reminds him that, “Papa’s gone” (Otsuka 50). For one of the few emotional outbursts in the novel, there is no consolation for the distressed child. There is only condemnation of his actions and a reminder of not only of how he should act but also of the very topic that is distressing him, his missing father. It is clear that it did not matter what age an individual was, it was expected that the child would remain silent and distant from

    Read More

  • Sacrifice In The Road

    1390 Words  | 6 Pages

    It seems that there is no reason to keep surviving in a world which no hopes remain, a father still perseveres to survive with his son and they are sustained by their love. On their journey, the father sacrifices a lot to protect his son and strongly shows his parental love. In this book, the father and the son have great

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of My Dear Son

    596 Words  | 3 Pages

    In life difficulties may arise, but an “instructive eye” of a “tender parent” is a push needed in everyone’s life. Abigail Adams believed, when she wrote a letter to her son, that difficulties are needed to succeed. She offers a motherly hand to her son to not repent his voyage to France and continue down the path he is going. She uses forms of rhetoric like pathos, metaphors, and allusions to give her son a much needed push in his quest to success.

    Read More

  • Pencil Crayons Analysis

    533 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the beginning of the story, he was an innocent kid without any worries or fears about his father or things that coming up. He tends to think positively about things around him. When the boy witnessed his father was about to beat his mother, he was scared, but then, he decided to stop his father from doing it. "The boy rose from his chair. ' No!'

    Read More

  • Vacation In Juan Forn's Swimming At Night

    1463 Words  | 6 Pages

    to still keep established pace and tone, which is that calm, disassociated mood. At this point the father, the reader might think, is a construction of the husband’s mind, because the husband had focused on “the idea of never seeing him again. . . .” which struck him the most out of this chance meeting, rather than on the present moment of seeing him (Forn 345). However surreal this may be in real life, the narrator manages to keep the same weight through the pacing in the story to give this story a certain realism through the husband’s

    Read More

  • Tragedy And Care In Sherman Alexie's War Dances

    1410 Words  | 6 Pages

    The character feels an almost bittersweet sensation here due to his father not being there for him in times when he needs him. It is a tragedy that even though he is relieved that his health is in satisfactory condition, his father is not because of his own choices of an unsatisfactory

    Read More

  • Poem Analysis Of 'A Story' By Li-Young Lee

    793 Words  | 4 Pages

    Words like sad, baba, the man and the boy are meaningful to the story along with adding to the meaning behind this complex relationship. A childlike tone is observed when we see the words sad and baba being repeated throughout the poem. This story is about a son wanting a story from his father. Since that is the word choice will be a lot different than if a teenage boy asked for a story.

    Read More

  • Who Is The Splinter In To Kill A Mockingbird

    216 Words  | 1 Pages

    Although the son does not remember the story, he can “hear his voice still, a well/ of dark water, a prayer.” He recalls his father’s tenderness as he laid his hands against his face, but he also remembers “the flames of discipline, he raised above my head.” Lee also emphasizes to the reader “Had you

    Read More

  • The Wasp Factory

    1913 Words  | 8 Pages

    Not having a healthy relationship with parents usually reflects in one's behaviour. In this novel, Ian Banks uses first person narrative to show Frank's unstable relationship with his parents, and is able to evoke sympathy from the reader. Sympathy is evoked in two ways; firstly, an unstable relationship with parents is bound to create sympathy due the universally accepted significance of parents in one's life. Furthermore, the topic of parents is very relatable, and pity is more likely to be felt when the reader can relate to the situation. After a conversation between Frank's father and Frank himself, the audience hears Frank's opinion on what his father said to him, "my father seemed to be trying to hurt me" (13).

    Read More

  • Examples Of Conflicts In The Kite Runner

    1128 Words  | 5 Pages

    The main character had to manage his father’s neglect while growing up. All Amir really wants is to be “looked at, not seen, listened to, not heard” (Hosseini 65), and while this conflict shapes the way that Amir grew up, readers are exposed to the

    Read More

  • A Literary Analysis Of Powder By Tobias Wolff

    888 Words  | 4 Pages

    The son undergoes moral development during this moment, and Wolff demonstrates this by using foils, symbolism, and by changing the connotation of the word snow. It is due to these literary devices that Wolff demonstrates the son’s moral development during a memorable moment. Throughout the novel it is apparent that the father and mother of the son are complete opposites.

    Read More

  • A Story By Li-Young Lee Analysis

    883 Words  | 4 Pages

    From beginning to end, the son calls his father “Baba” to show his affection and admiration. Despite the father’s inability to come up with a new story, the son still looks up to him. This affectionate term also contrasts with the father’s vision of the “boy packing his shirts [and] looking for his keys,” which accentuates the undying love between the father and son (15 & 16) . The father’s emotional “screams” also emphasize his fear of disappointing the son he loves so much (17). Despite the father’s agonizing visions, the son remains patient and continues to ask for a story, and their relationship remains “emotional” and “earthly”--nothing has changed (20-21).

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Li-Young Lee's Poem Eating Alone

    657 Words  | 3 Pages

    The man thinks he is way to young to lose his father. Due to that he pities himself since he is alone. His father left him and the speaker does not think he deserves that. Within Li-Young Lee’s poem “Eating Alone” many different poetic elements are used.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Life Illustrated In Ernest Hemingway's The Road

    990 Words  | 4 Pages

    The father, frightened by his own dreams, makes him think about death and he couldn’t sleep whenever he had this dream about a woman. The father mentions on how he fears all these things but never shows that he’s afraid towards the boy, so the boy can feel safe and smile more if he knows there not

    Read More

More about Diction And Juxtaposition In 'A Story' By Li-Young Lee

Open Document