The idea that parents act and care unconditionally for their children’s best interests is a truth that carries into countless fictional pieces. However, the parent does not always have to outwardly demonstrate his or her affection. For example, August Wilson’s Fences poses an overworked African American father named Troy Maxson, who wants the best for his family. Often times he excessively protects his family, and as a result appears to be harsh, and even selfish. This concept of 'tough love' is shared in Robert Hayden's poem "Those Winter Sundays," in which an adult son is remorseful that he mistook his father's distant and rough personality for indifference, when in reality his father truly did care for his family. Both Fences and "Those
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After Troy passes away and his wife Rose holds his funeral, Cory reluctantly returns because he believes that his Troy "was like a shadow that followed you everywhere... trying to live through you;" he does not want to honor his death because he wanted to disregard all traces of the tough relationship he had with his father. Yet his mother makes him realize that "your daddy wanted you to be everything he wasn't... and at the same time he tried to make you into everything he was" (Wilson 244). Cory finally understands that Troy was trying to protect him from rejection so that he could have a better future than he had. Similarly, the son in “Those Winter Sundays” finally understands that his father may have been harsh, but the way he treated his father was not deserved. He mentions “the chronic angers of that house,” most likely referring to his father’s ill temperament, which suggests that the fear of his father had blinded him from seeing the good in his father (Hayden 309). The speaker’s remorse is confirmed in the final stanza as he exclaims, “what did I know/of love’s austere and lonely offices?” (Hayden 309). Hayden’s choice in describing his father as “austere” and “lonely” epitomizes the concept of a relationship in which perceptible affection is lacking, but nonetheless
After Troy passes away and his wife Rose holds his funeral, Cory reluctantly returns because he believes that his Troy "was like a shadow that followed you everywhere... trying to live through you;" he does not want to honor his death because he wanted to disregard all traces of the tough relationship he had with his father. Yet his mother makes him realize that "your daddy wanted you to be everything he wasn't... and at the same time he tried to make you into everything he was" (Wilson 244). Cory finally understands that Troy was trying to protect him from rejection so that he could have a better future than he had. Similarly, the son in “Those Winter Sundays” finally understands that his father may have been harsh, but the way he treated his father was not deserved. He mentions “the chronic angers of that house,” most likely referring to his father’s ill temperament, which suggests that the fear of his father had blinded him from seeing the good in his father (Hayden 309). The speaker’s remorse is confirmed in the final stanza as he exclaims, “what did I know/of love’s austere and lonely offices?” (Hayden 309). Hayden’s choice in describing his father as “austere” and “lonely” epitomizes the concept of a relationship in which perceptible affection is lacking, but nonetheless