Silver Sparrow

‘Anyone can be a father, but it takes a real man to be a Dad’. When most people think of what it takes to be a Dad, they think of a man that is a pillar of strength, discipline and hard work. Though these are excellent qualities to have, a child still needs a caring, loving, supporting father figure to help develop them into well-adjusted individuals. Unfortunately, not everyone lives up to these characteristics and expectations because opinions vary on what makes an ‘idealistic’ Dad. In 1966, Robert Hayden wrote a poem titled “Those Winter Sundays”, which provided a brief, yet descriptive, imagery of a father who has allowed work to consume his life, leaving his relationship with his family cold and somewhat unexpressive. Forty-five years
Though her home life was much different than Robert Hayden’s, one thing they did have in common was their passion for writing. Silver Sparrow, her third release, was conjured up by a mixture of her two half-sisters and a conversation about two wives showing up to their husbands’ funeral. The setting was Atlanta, Ga in the 1980’s, it wasn’t uncommon for a man to have more than one wife. The book opens with “My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist" (3). James Witherspoon is the father of Dana Yarboro and Chaurisse Witherspoon, the two main speakers in the book, and the husband of two concurrent wives. Due to how the book is written, readers are able to get insight on both sides of the story, from each daughter’s viewpoint. Mr. Witherspoon is a loving, caring father; however, he is a dishonest and disloyal man at the same time. He provides for his two unknowing families with the nurturing aspect of fatherhood, but falls short in the moral aspect of it all. His love is more of an emotionally involved type of
He says:
It begins with the father toward the son, when he makes the fire. Then, the unspoken love is returned, when the adult son asks, "What did I know, what did I know...?" The tone of that repetition…cuts from indifference to guilt to admiration…"offices," a metaphor that expresses the endurance required of long-term love, of manual labor, and of the official fatherly role…when the father began each day in the cold darkness, to warm up the home for his still-dreaming child. (A Lost Father Warms a House)
A good father teaches his children to appreciate things, he leads by example, he is supportive, he protects and loves his family, he is a provider, a disciplinarian and a friend. A father comes in many ways, shapes and forms. The role of the father has changed, just as everything else has evolved over the years. One thing that remains the same is the fathers love for his family; whether it’s implied, involved or idealistic. The two men in the story and poem are less than idealistic fathers, but to say they weren’t good fathers would be an