When Laker Decides The Handshake Analysis

I believe that, after reading the story thoroughly, it mainly revolves around “Forgiveness” and “Moving on”. At the end of the story Laker accepts the handshake offered by his father. This example shows forgiveness because that moment when Laker accepts the handshake was the point he had already forgiven his abusive father for what he has done to their family. Secondly, the part when Laker is by the window in his father’s house and he felt peace washing over him after an emotional conversation with his father about the day he abused Laker’s mother. This example relates to moving on. Moving on, for me, is when you’ve accepted the reality of a past event in your life that has an immense effect on you. At this part, it was shown that Laker has finally felt peace in him and this denotes that he has finally let go of his feelings in the past and has moved on from what has happened.
The story’s theme is particularly relevant to me, the idea of moving on.
The past month has been really difficult for me because we have just migrated from the Philippines to Canada. The move really affected me physically and, for the most part, emotionally. The thoughts of leaving everything behind, especially my friends and family back there, really took effect on me. Even now, I have not yet fully accepted the fact that we have already migrated here. It is really difficult for me to adjust because I was so used to life in the Philippines and the move put so much sudden change that I didn’t have time to accept it wholeheartedly. Although I am, at the moment, on the process of moving on which is great because I have to move on whether I like it or not. Upon reading the story I related to Laker because he was also going through the process of moving on from his father’s
abuse.

Forgiving and moving on. These two correlate with each other in our very lives. In the story, Laker really didn’t want to meet his father because of the abuse and abandonment he had done. This shows that Laker still hasn’t moved on from the things his father did therefore he can’t seem to forgive his father. The time came when he needed to face his father and the emotional conversation they had finally let him move on and make him forgive his father. In life, when you’re having a hard time forgiving someone it means that you still aren’t moving on from what the person has done to you. Forgiving is for that person and moving on is for you. When you do both, you will attain peace, just like what Laker felt in the end. Both of these have impacts in our lives because we encounter so many things that involve forgiving and moving on and these actions allow us to heal and strengthen our bonds with the people we love. These actions enable us to live our lives happily and with no regret and that’s what all of us deserve, a life filled with happiness and love.