Dilip Chitre creates a stark impression of the isolation of old age in his poem ‘Father Returning Home’ by showing his fathers’ estrangement from society and his own family. Chitre conveys this isolation by using literary devices such as similes and repetition, and addressing themes such as modernity vs tradition.
The poem begins when a father is waiting outside for a train which will take him home. We know this as it says ‘My father travels on the late evening train’. Already by labelling the train as ‘late’ we know that it is either a late time of the day, or it is late because society does not need to be on time for older people. The sibilance used to describe the commuters creates a ‘hissing’ sound in the readers mind emphasizing how unpleasant …show more content…
By describing his father getting off the train ‘like a word dropped from a long sentence’, Chitre emphasizes how unimportant his father is considered. In any language, a word is dropped when it is just hanging there as an extra and has no relevance. Even when it is dropped, nothing changes in the rest of the sentence, in fact is made more clear and concise. This is how society considers the elderly. They are just dropped off until only the best remain on the train. This conveys the isolation of old age in the poem as they are not viewed as important in society. This makes the reader feel more pity for the father as instead of being taken care of in his fragile state because of his old age, instead he is dropped without any care. Despite this, the father is seen rushing home, to where the reader hopes his life will be better. The reader can sense the fathers excitement and urge to reach home as the word ‘hurries’ is repeated several times. The father is even mentioned carrying out dangerous actions such as crossing a railway line despite his old age to get home. No matter even if his shoes are sticky, he is still hurrying. This creates a sense of hope in the reader, that despite the fact the father is isolated from society because of his old age, he will be taken care of at …show more content…
No matter where the father is, he will be isolated all because of his old age, as society has modernized and has left the elderly like him
The poem begins when a father is waiting outside for a train which will take him home. We know this as it says ‘My father travels on the late evening train’. Already by labelling the train as ‘late’ we know that it is either a late time of the day, or it is late because society does not need to be on time for older people. The sibilance used to describe the commuters creates a ‘hissing’ sound in the readers mind emphasizing how unpleasant …show more content…
By describing his father getting off the train ‘like a word dropped from a long sentence’, Chitre emphasizes how unimportant his father is considered. In any language, a word is dropped when it is just hanging there as an extra and has no relevance. Even when it is dropped, nothing changes in the rest of the sentence, in fact is made more clear and concise. This is how society considers the elderly. They are just dropped off until only the best remain on the train. This conveys the isolation of old age in the poem as they are not viewed as important in society. This makes the reader feel more pity for the father as instead of being taken care of in his fragile state because of his old age, instead he is dropped without any care. Despite this, the father is seen rushing home, to where the reader hopes his life will be better. The reader can sense the fathers excitement and urge to reach home as the word ‘hurries’ is repeated several times. The father is even mentioned carrying out dangerous actions such as crossing a railway line despite his old age to get home. No matter even if his shoes are sticky, he is still hurrying. This creates a sense of hope in the reader, that despite the fact the father is isolated from society because of his old age, he will be taken care of at …show more content…
No matter where the father is, he will be isolated all because of his old age, as society has modernized and has left the elderly like him