A Thematic Analysis Of 'A Story' By Li-Young Lee

Li-Young Lee’s poem “A Story” shows the complicated relationship between the father and the son by utilizing the literary devices of point of view and structure. Italicized lines distinguish the diction of who is talking to draw on point of view to indicate the complex relationship. Through changing perspective, Lee employs emotional interests to emphasize the conflicting perspectives that exist between father and son. Lee also adds depth to the shared “love” between the two characters to illuminate the theme of innocence and changing relationships over the course of time. The lines are italicized when either the father or the son speaks. Specifically, lines eleven through fourteen and lines sixteen through 18, the father speaks, and in lines four and nineteen, the son speaks.
Li-Young Lee reveals the father’s fear of the his son aging and in time demanding more from him than he can give. While the son is only five years old in the present sense of the poem, the father still dwells on the future. Distracted by the what will come vs. the present moment, inhibiting him from focusing on what he has now. The father’s inability to tell a new story warps his imagination into something grim and dismal. Coming up with a new story is simple action but in the father’s eyes it’s the “burden” of not being able to please his son. At the same time the father loves his son immensely and is scared of the day his son will leave because he is unsatisfied. Overall, the father's love for his love and his inability to tell a satisfying story warp together, and create a future that haunts the father. Perhaps, this is why the father can not meet his sons demands; the father is too caught up in a possibly non existent future that it stops him from actually trying anymore because he believes he has already perceived the