Powder By Tobias Wolf Analysis

In Tobias Wolf’s Powder he tells a story of a father and son trip. The father and son are on a skiing trip, and the father is supposed to have the son home for Christmas Eve dinner. It is apparent that the mother and father are separated, and the father knows if he has any chance left with the mother, he must get his son home for dinner. They end up getting snowed in, and despite the snow, the father decides to risk, getting stuck to make sure the son gets home. Wolf uses the process of writing so the reader can figure out what the essential message/ theme of the story is. The theme of Powder is to live in the moment, and it is developed through events of the story, conversation, and feelings of the main character. Wolf uses certain events of the story to convey his theme, of living in the moment. In the beginning, Wolf tells that the father had to “fight for the privilege of [his son’s] company, because [his] mother was still angry with him for sneaking [him] into a nightclub… to see Thelonious Monk” (Wolf). This already in itself, suggest that the father is carefree and fearless. The son is unlike the father, he is a conservative, and very organized, and Wolf shows this by stating that “I bothered my teachers for …show more content…
When the father and son were on the ski trip, despite the fact that the father had to get the son home, for Christmas Eve dinner, he still made sure they had fun. An example of this is when the father said “Crimmy. This’ll have to be a fast one” indicating that he wants to enjoy the moments he shares with his son, before taking him home to his mother (Wolf). Another example of this is when the father was “breaking virgin snow between the lines of tall tree. He was humming ‘Stars Fell on Alabama” (Wolf). That quote indicated that the father decided to make best of the situation and live in the moment, although knowing the odds are against