Essay1 NightCallsVS

Jasmine Stone
Period 3
11/6/14

Why do we have mental barriers blocking us from the people we love? In these two stories that’s exactly what happened. In “Night Calls” by Lisa Fugard and “A Story” by Lee, Li- Young there are two fathers that have mental blocks, blocking them from giving them what their child deserves, which is the main conflict and theme of these two stories. In “Night Calls” the father loses his wife then replaces his wife with a bird, and gives all his love to the bird instead of his daughter. In “A Story” there’s a father who wants to give the best for his son but actually has a mental block and freaks out mentally causing him to do the opposite. In this essay I will prove the theme and compare the two stories. In the story “Night Calls” by Lisa Fugard there are two characters; one a father that is highly damaged inside, and the other a girl desperate for her father’s love and attention. The story is shown from the daughter’s point of view. The conflict and theme in this story is that the father has substituted his deceased wife with a bird and is subconsciously not giving his daughter the love and attention she needs. “I remember it all clearly, standing in the dust, watching him get out of the truck and walk toward me, noticing that there was no smile on his face but still feeling my body move toward him, my arms opening for an embrace… My father stopped and held out his right hand” (“Night Calls”, Page 9). In this quote the bird and deceased mother have not yet been introduced but this does show how much the daughter wants her father’s love and how she’s not receiving it. In the previous quote she uses the words “Embrace” and I believe that shows diction and how strongly that hug would’ve meant. Instead of just saying hug, she said embrace, implying more emotion to the sentence that the hug really would have meant something to her even though it never happened. “My father stopped and held out his right hand” (“Night Calls”, Page 9) shows and agrees with the conflict; he has no connections with his daughter. He seems emotionless. A few pages into the short story the deceased mother and the heron (bird) was introduced. “The year that park officials brought the bird to Modder River had been a difficult one. My mother was killed in a car accident just before my eighth birthday.” (“Night Calls”, Page 12). This quote shows the inconvenience of when the bird was brought into the grieving daughter and father’s life. “There was no way I could stay at Modder River… there was my schooling to consider; my mother had been my tutor. As for my father, it made no sense for him to remain, grieving, in a place so closely associated with his [dead] wife. My father was on the verge of resigning as warden of the small sanctuary when the park officials telephoned about the bird” (“Night Calls”, Page 12). The father and daughter were both going to leave the sanctuary. Everything reminded the depressed and vulnerable father of the deceased wife (Mother) and he wanted to leave but couldn’t. He was trapped in the sanctuary, enclosed by the new Red-crested heron that he had to take care of. This is what causes his obsession and inability. After the daughter left for boarding school, the father was left in a place that reminded him of his deceased wife with nothing to do but take care of the bird. This is when the mental block begins to form. “During the holidays I came home, and my father would share the latest news about the heron with me. He showed me articles from the local papers lauding the conversation efforts around the bird” (“Night Calls”, Page 13). It’s ironic how the daughter is right in front of him and all he can talk about is the bird, she’s only there for holidays. The saved newspapers symbolizes his obsession with the bird. The bird is like his pride and joy but what about his daughter? “I’d spent many school holidays in the tree watching my father as he fed the bird, collected the feathers during the molt, and proudly chatted with visitors. Maybe he’d known that I was up there all that time.”(“Night Calls”, Page 9). This shows the theme of this story, the father is giving all his love and attention to the bird and neglects his own daughter leaving her wanting and hoping for his recognition. In the previous quote the daughter says that the father might have known she was up there for all that time during her holiday breaks. She’s giving herself recognition from her father, adding and imagining her father acknowledging her and not the bird for once. “I saw my father move slowly across the compound carrying the heron gently under his arm, its long legs dangling at his side. The heron’s neck was liquid in the moonlight, curving and swaying, at times seeming to entwine my father…. One of my father’s hands followed the bird’s neck, lightly touching it at times, while the other was sunk deep into the heron’s soft breast.” (“Night Calls”, Page 14 &15). This quote shows imagery, the author goes into deep detail when describing how the father was petting the bird (heron), letting us imagine it actually happening, showing us how he actually cares for the bird. In this quote there’s also diction, the author says gently, liquid, moonlight, swaying, entwine and more to describe the mood in the scene with the father and the bird giving us a romantic mood. This diction slows us down and gives us detailed descriptions, showing more affection toward the bird letting the readers know that he deeply cares for the bird. It’s like he’s saying good bye to the bird because during the same night the father attempts to let go of the bird by releasing him into the wild. “He seemed lighter and chatted with me about school as I helped him dismantle the fence…. He told me that now he might even be able to come to the end-of-the-year recital at my school.” (“Night Calls”, Page 15) After the father releases the bird he is able to do more things with his daughter than before. “The following night I also heard the heron’s call again, and I also heard footsteps leaving our house…. For ten nights the heron called and my father followed.”(“Night Calls”, Page 15). The father attempted to let go of his obsession with the bird but was unsuccessful, he continues to visit the bird at night, proving that he can’t just let go of his feelings toward the bird. “One long night, I didn’t hear the heron’s call…. The next morning, I saw that my father’s eyes had gone dull like a dead animal’s.” (“Night Calls” Page 16). This quote shows how much the bird means to the father and how much the father feels he needs the bird. Only one night he didn’t hear the herons call and he’s worried. He acted as if he lost his wife again. Later on the daughter discovers the dead herons (birds) body, but buried it and didn’t mention it to her father so he’d still have hope that the bird was alright. “I made sandwiches for supper that night. I made extra ones for my father, but he didn’t come home.” (“Night Calls”, Page 17) The father is outside looking for the bird all-night and now his attention isn’t on the daughter anymore it’s on the bird again. “I hid in the reeds and waited. An hour later my father on the opposite bank, looking, listening…. I crouched even lower. Slowly I tilted my head back until my throat was wide open and a tremulous wail slid out. My father stood up and looked across the water to where I was crouched. Again I made the sound, again, and again. He took three more small steps toward my side of the river and his hands fluttered like giant, tawny moths in the moonlight.” (“Night Calls”, Page 19) This shows that the daughter really wants her father to be happy, despite the fact that he neglected her and may continue to, she still wants him to be happy. This quote shows imagery because of the way the author describes the daughter giving the herons wail. I believe that the fathers flutter with his hands symbolizes his hope for the herons survival. As we have seen the father is still unable to let go of the bird. He isn’t able to change his focus for his daughter. The heron means so much to this father that he just cannot let go. In a poem “A Story” by Lee, Li-Young there’s a son and a father. The poem is shown by the fathers point of view. “In a room full of books in a world of stories, he can recall not one, and soon, he thinks, the boy will give up on his father.” (“A Story”, Lines 4-9). In these lines it is ironic that for some reason the father cannot come up with a story to tell his son, even though there is so many. This quote shows the conflict of the story, the father thinks his son is going to give up on him because the father hasn’t given the son a story fast enough. “Already the man lives far ahead, he sees the day this boy will go. “Don’t go! Hear the alligator story! The angel story once more! ... Let me tell it!” (“A Story” Lines 10-14). The italics in this poem symbolize his thoughts. The father is overreacting, trying to imagine the future at its worst. Why does he do this to himself? The son is just asking for a story and in the fathers mind he’s building scenarios off of his anxiety, preparing for the worst. The diction in this quote hints at desperation because he’s pleading for the boy to stay, giving him options he previously liked. “But the boy is packing his shirts, he is looking for his keys. Are you a god that I sit mute before you? Am I a god that I should never disappoint?” (“A Story” Lines 15-18) The father is feeling mute causing him to get angry. The diction in the quote represents a higher power (a god). The father uses god to empower the son, strengthening the son’s role. In his mind he imagines the son as a superior being that he has no control over. These are just thoughts overpowering his current judgment causing his inability to tell his son a story. This is the father’s mental barrier holding him back from picking a story and telling it to his son. He puts his son on a pedestal, giving him power as if he were a god, hoping to please him as if the father were a jester pleasing the king (the son). In this quote, the father starts to get furious. In his mind he’s yelling, but the question is how loud does the father have to yell for his son to hear him on the high pedestal provided by the father. He imagines himself mute like an insect irrelevant to the sons decisions, because he’s afraid that his son will leave him. “But the boy is here. Please, Baba, a story? (“A Story”, Line 19). This brings the boy down from the pedestal, letting the father see that he’s just a child asking for a story. The diction in this quote show the innocence in the sons request. This is the father’s realization point that breaks him from the mental barrier. “It is an emotional rather than logical equation, an earthly rather than heavenly one, which posits that a boy’s supplications and a father’s love add up to silence.” (“A Story”, Lines 20-25). The previous quote points back to reality. As we have seen, the father was in his head, overreacting a simple request from his son. He goes on a mental trip believing his son will give up on him because he can’t think of the right story to tell his son, the father finally comes back from his mental trip when the son says “Please, Baba, a story?” (“A Story”, Line 19) he realizes that the son is just asking for a story. The two stories “A Story” by Lee, Li-Young and “Night Calls” by Lisa Fugard have many similarities, such as their theme and conflict. The theme and conflict is that both of them have mental barriers blocking them from giving them what their children deserve. One difference between the two are that in “A Story” there is a father and son and in “Night Calls” there is a Father and daughter. In both stories the father is has a conflict and is the person having a mental block. “Noticing there was no smile on his face….My father stopped and held out his right hand.” (“Night Calls”, Page 9) In “Night Calls”, one of the conflicts are the father shows no affection toward his daughter but in “A Story” the conflict is that the father is overpowered with his emotions causing his mental block. “ You love the spider story. You laugh at the spider. Let me tell it! But the boy is packing his shirts he is looking for his keys. Are you a god, the man screams, that I sit mute before you?” (“A Story”, Lines 12-16). This quote shows the mood changing he goes from desperate to angry within a few words. The father in this poem feels too much emotion, causing him to over think a simple request from his son. I think the father in “A Story” loves his son and just wants to give him the best he can offer his child. “For ten nights the heron called and my father followed” (“Night Calls”, Page 15). The father in “Night Calls” never gives up his obsession with the bird even after he released it into the wild. ”But the boy is here. Please, Baba, a story? It’s an emotional rather than logical equation” (“A Story”, Lines 19-21). The father in “A Story” finally comes out of his mental block, the boy is just an innocent child asking for a story. This is what brings him from a desperate and angry father to a more understanding father. By comparing the two stories we can see that both fathers have a mental block but only one father realizes and breaks through his inabilities which is the father from “A Story”. The father from “A Story” is telling the poem from his point of view and the story “Night Calls” is being told by the daughter’s point of view. In “Night Calls” the father has a mental block that prevents him from giving his daughter the attention and love she deserves. So desperate for her fathers love she pretends to be the bird at the end of the story to make him happy. In “A story” the father tells us the conflict of the story, he’s afraid his son will give up on him because he can’t find a story to tell his son. It’s ironic because there’s a world full of stories and he still cannot think of one. So desperate he even names a few stories that the son previously liked. The father panics because he feels as if he is going to disappoint the son. At the end of this poem the father realizes his mental block and breaks through is inability. Both of these stories have struggles with their kids and it’s not their Childs fault, it’s theirs. In the real world, many parents and children relate to their feelings as if the parent is overreacting or that they are being neglected. No situation is the same but can have a similar conflict.