Mine on Thursdays Essay

How successful a child turns out to be when they grow older mainly depends on how well a job the parents do raising them. If parents don't nurture children properly when they are younger than the fault lies on them. In Robert Cormier's short story "Mine on Thursdays" Howie, a divorced father, cannot full fill his duty towards his daughter Holly. Not only does Howie leave Holly at a young age, but even when re-united once weekly he cannot seem to get things right with her as a father. This concludes that Howie has many flaws that keep him from being a good parent. One of Howie's many flaws is that he tends to make immature decisions as a parent. These decisions not only show his foolishness, but also gives the wrong idea to Holly. For example, when Howie came to pick up Holly and he drove up trying to aggravate Alison. "….Blew the horn to provoke her…." (226) Holly who witnessed this must be thinking that this is the proper way to communicate. She doesn't know any better and will use this as a solution when older. Like that wasn't bad enough he also makes a reckless U-turn on his way there. These decisions that he makes portray him as an ignorant and unfit parent because he is showing Holly that it is okay to do this. Howie's immature decisions aren't always childish though. Sometimes he makes choices that could end up to be fatal. At the carnival with Holly he lets her go on the Rocket Ride by herself. Letting her go by herself was not a very smart idea at all. Say something would have happened to Holly during the ride. If she either got hurt or fainted. Then he would be held accountable for making a non-thoughtful decision as well as being irresponsible as a parent towards Holly. Choices such as these really make you think whether Howie is fit to be a parent or not. Most importantly, Howie cannot carry on a mature conversation with Holly. "….But I began….I'd been about to say: you are mine on Thursdays…." (235) Howie wants to tell Holly that indeed he