Influential Fathers
Essay #3 Research Essay
April 23, 2013 The Influential Fathers Many people underestimate the significance of a father in a child’s life. The father has some of the most prevalent influences on a child, especially while the child is young. A child’s happiness while growing up is largely influenced by the type of father he has and the relationship they bare. Some children will end up resenting their father more than anything because their father fails to really get to know them. On the other hand, some children will have such a close bond with their father that they have trouble letting go. There are many different qualities or personality traits that can make a dad a “bad father” or prevent him from truly understanding and appreciating his children. Both Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart and Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice give impeccable examples of fathers failing to know their children. In these literary selections, the three things that interfere with the fathers ' relationships with their children are being overly protective and extra restrictive, being neglectful and selfish, and setting impossible and unrealistic expectations. The first example of how fathers can sometimes fail to know their child is in The Merchant of Venice involving Jessica and her father Shylock. The reason he fails to really know her is because Shylock is very protective over Jessica and wants to have complete control over her. A parent cannot make the living environment of their children hostile or resemble a prison because it will not only make the child resent their home but it will make them resent their parent (Thomsen 77). Shylock does this because of his selfish lack of understanding and pushes Jessica away. Not only does Shylock have his priorities wrong, but according to Jessica he also creates a home filled with negativity and hostility: She tells Lancelet, “Our
April 23, 2013 The Influential Fathers Many people underestimate the significance of a father in a child’s life. The father has some of the most prevalent influences on a child, especially while the child is young. A child’s happiness while growing up is largely influenced by the type of father he has and the relationship they bare. Some children will end up resenting their father more than anything because their father fails to really get to know them. On the other hand, some children will have such a close bond with their father that they have trouble letting go. There are many different qualities or personality traits that can make a dad a “bad father” or prevent him from truly understanding and appreciating his children. Both Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart and Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice give impeccable examples of fathers failing to know their children. In these literary selections, the three things that interfere with the fathers ' relationships with their children are being overly protective and extra restrictive, being neglectful and selfish, and setting impossible and unrealistic expectations. The first example of how fathers can sometimes fail to know their child is in The Merchant of Venice involving Jessica and her father Shylock. The reason he fails to really know her is because Shylock is very protective over Jessica and wants to have complete control over her. A parent cannot make the living environment of their children hostile or resemble a prison because it will not only make the child resent their home but it will make them resent their parent (Thomsen 77). Shylock does this because of his selfish lack of understanding and pushes Jessica away. Not only does Shylock have his priorities wrong, but according to Jessica he also creates a home filled with negativity and hostility: She tells Lancelet, “Our
Cited: Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. 1959 London: Doubleplay, 1994. Print. Kemp, Jeff. Be A Parent Not A Pal. n.p.: Australian Academic Press, 2010. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 8 Apr. 2013. Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Washington Square Press, 1992. Print. Thomsen, Kate. Parenting Preteens With A Purpose : Navigating The Middle Years. n.p.: Search Institute Press, 2008. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 8 Apr. 2013. Warner, Rebecca. Gubrium, Jaber., and Holstein, James, eds. Being a Good Parent. North Carolina: Oxford, 2005. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 5 April. 2013 Also Read Throughout Research Ramaekers, Stefan. The Claims of Parenting. Reasons, Responsibility and Society: Springer Netherlands, 2012. Volume 4. eBook Collection (Springer Link). Web. 5 April. 2013.