thesis: Through the imagery, word choice, and tone of Jan Heller Levi’s “Not Bad, Dad, Not Bad,” a theme emerges: a parent may have limitations in their ability to care for a child, despite their best intentions.
Topic Sentence 1: There are several significant images in this poem, all focusing on swimming, that together reveal how parents’ own weaknesses can unintentionally affect their parenting abilities.
Evidence 1: The poem opens with a stanza that describes the father’s awkward swimming, continuing for several lines to create an image in the reader’s mind. Levi writes, “I think you are most yourself when you’re swimming; / slicing the water with each stroke, / the funny way you breathe, your mouth cocked / as though you’re yawning.”
Topic Sentence 1: There are several significant images in this poem, all focusing on swimming, that together reveal how parents’ own weaknesses can unintentionally affect their parenting abilities.
Evidence 1: The poem opens with a stanza that describes the father’s awkward swimming, continuing for several lines to create an image in the reader’s mind. Levi writes, “I think you are most yourself when you’re swimming; / slicing the water with each stroke, / the funny way you breathe, your mouth cocked / as though you’re yawning.”