As humans, the first concept we learn is where do we all belong. This concept is primarily learned by already existing in a group call family. Family is where our identity is created,our sense of personality develops , the ways of life are first taught, and where we learn how to be appreciated and loved. We learn from family that although we should hold high expectations for ourselves, these goals won't be easily accomplished and we should expect the hardships that life throws our way. In the poems, "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes and "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke the authors show that families have different approaches of showing affection. Although both poems addresses the concept of how the families show affection differently, both authors describes their point through the usage of development of a relationship, tone,and imagery.
In Theodore Roethke's poem the relationship between the father and son is broken. The father is identified in the lines 1-2 "The whiskey on your breath. Could make a small boy dizzy". A young boy can't identify the smell of whiskey unless the action is repeated numerous amounts of time that it sparks a response to the son that his father is drinking. No son wants to see their father in that condition. Roethke furthers describes the relationship between the father and the son relationship by introducing the mother of family and her reaction of witnessing this relationship, "My mother countenance Could not unfrown itself" (lines 7-8). The mother reaction by witnessing this relationship is out of disappointment describing the families broken bond. Lastly, in the lines 11-12 the son describes how the father treated him physically, "At every step you kissed My right ear scraped a buckle". The father and son relationship is broken due to the fact that the father was slowly battering the chances of bonding with his son rather than building it.
Although the son notices that his father is a heavy dr...