Cat's In The Cradle Analysis

For most situations, there is a defining moment. That moment for this story is not my own. ‘Cat’s in the Cradle’, written by Harry Chapin is a song about a father who neglects his son while he is growing up. When the child is going through adolescence, he tells his father that when he grows up, he is going to be like him. The song contains empty promises and missed opportunities. Once the child is grown up and has a family of his own, he fulfills his promise of being like his father. His does this by neglecting his father once he finally decides he wants to be a part of his son’s life in adulthood. This particular song played in the car while my own father was teaching my brother to drive during one of our scheduled visits. At the time of this event, I was in elementary school and my parents were already divorced. At some point, my brother turned to my father …show more content…
From a young age, I had to compete for my father’s affections. He was more athletically oriented and therefore inclined to my brother. As a result, my brother participated in hockey, soccer, and bowling much to his dismay as sports were not his particular forte. While he enjoyed hockey at first, he has come to detest most sports due to how forcefully passionate our father became. No matter how hard I pushed myself to strive for perfection, it was never enough for him, nothing I did was. That man, related to me by blood, used to be my hero. I told him that once and he told me his was glad. I never believed him and I cannot say I continue to call him my hero today as he is far from it. That title which I had wrongfully bestowed upon him was a naive conjuring of what my younger self wished he could be. I wanted a father that was there for me. I wanted a father that tucked me in at night, that fulfilled his promises and that wanted to spend time with me. I wanted to make him proud and I never