The Two Face of My Father
The Two Faces of My Father
Children model their habits and characteristics through what they usually see and hear from their parents. The influence of parents on their offspring’s values can be the most important influence given to a child in life. Positive and negative parental behavior is remembered even by grown children, no matter if their parents have passed away. Scott Russell Sanders, a professor of English at Indiana University, has written many works based on his own life and experience. Two of his essays, "The Inheritance of Tools," published in 1987 in his book The Paradise of Bombs and "Under the Influence: Paying the Price of My Father’s Booze," included in his essay collection Secrets of the Universe: Scenes from the Journey Home, published in 1991, the author dedicates to his father‘s personality. However, whereas "The Inheritance of Tools" emphasizes handing down knowledge from father to his children, “Under the Influence” unveils the family secret about the father’s drinking and the way the booze affected the child’s life. Both essays are based of Sander’s memories of values, lessons, and skills given him by his father, but each essay depicts a different aspect of his father and reveals the different ways father influenced his son’s life as an adult.
As first model of behavior, parents teach their children values, lessons, and skills which are kept in children’s memory forever. In both essays, “The Inheritance of Tools” and “Under the Influence,” Sanders uses his memories of his father and narrates his father’s life as the author sees it through son’s eyes. Describing his father’s ending in the first essay and his father’s alcoholism in the second essay, the author actually reveals his memories. Sanders begins “The Inheritance of Tools” with a story of hitting his thumb with a hammer, and author’s mind immediately recalls what his father would say about hitting. Keeping an eye on his wound, Sanders reflects, "It took the better part of a year
Children model their habits and characteristics through what they usually see and hear from their parents. The influence of parents on their offspring’s values can be the most important influence given to a child in life. Positive and negative parental behavior is remembered even by grown children, no matter if their parents have passed away. Scott Russell Sanders, a professor of English at Indiana University, has written many works based on his own life and experience. Two of his essays, "The Inheritance of Tools," published in 1987 in his book The Paradise of Bombs and "Under the Influence: Paying the Price of My Father’s Booze," included in his essay collection Secrets of the Universe: Scenes from the Journey Home, published in 1991, the author dedicates to his father‘s personality. However, whereas "The Inheritance of Tools" emphasizes handing down knowledge from father to his children, “Under the Influence” unveils the family secret about the father’s drinking and the way the booze affected the child’s life. Both essays are based of Sander’s memories of values, lessons, and skills given him by his father, but each essay depicts a different aspect of his father and reveals the different ways father influenced his son’s life as an adult.
As first model of behavior, parents teach their children values, lessons, and skills which are kept in children’s memory forever. In both essays, “The Inheritance of Tools” and “Under the Influence,” Sanders uses his memories of his father and narrates his father’s life as the author sees it through son’s eyes. Describing his father’s ending in the first essay and his father’s alcoholism in the second essay, the author actually reveals his memories. Sanders begins “The Inheritance of Tools” with a story of hitting his thumb with a hammer, and author’s mind immediately recalls what his father would say about hitting. Keeping an eye on his wound, Sanders reflects, "It took the better part of a year