Arm Wrestling With My Father

Arm wrestling with my father is about a boy and his father being competitive in arm wrestling and them having a physical relationship, more than your typical father son relationship. Arm wrestling was a thing he did with his father and how they expressed their love for each other. His father didn’t really know how to express his love for him son so he showed it through physical sports which was arm wrestling. The love him and his father had for each other was always there, even though they didn’t realize until he went off for college and came back home. Their relationship grew stronger over time. In the beginning of the story he says that their relationship had been physical and that they never communicated in speech or in writing as in a …show more content…
I think arm wrestling symbolizes the love they had for each other even though the relationship was a physical one. One example that shows this is that Manning states, “Our had always been a physical relationship…We never communicated as well in speech or in writing as in a strong hug, battling to make the other gasp for air” (Manning 138). This quote symbolizes the love they have for each other through arm wrestling because Manning talks about how their relationship is very physical. He also says that his father basically lacks that emotional side of a relationship because he never hugs or write him a card. Their relationship is not a normal relationship but his father loves to arm wrestle and form him this is how he expresses his love to his son. Not through coming to his sons lacrosse games with a happy look or helping him write a paper or poem. Instead of the emotional things his dad still tried to communicate with him to show him the love he …show more content…
Arm wrestling in this story symbolized the loved they expressed for each other physically and emotionally, it was like having a conversation. Their relationship wasn’t your typical father son relationship and that is what Manning failed to realize. I loved this essay because of the father son relationship they had and I felt how strong it was from the beginning. Many relationships today are more physical than emotional that’s how people get along and connect. Manning and his fathers relationship resembled this. He couldn’t understand why but once he got stronger and older he knew the love his father had for him was always there. Manning realized this when his father hugs him instead of giving him a handshake. I think this was the most exciting part. Their relationship went from arm wrestling and handshaking goodbye to hugs. In this you can sense a fathers love for his child shown through arm