An Analysis of Mel Lazarus' Angry Fathers
A00116258
Angry Fathers Mel Lazarus, writer of Angry Fathers, showed by describing his relationship between him and his father, as he recalled an incident that happened when he was 9 years old, back in 1938, when corporal punishment was most used to correct bad behavior, “They’ll live, don’t worry “, was the common idea, that event marked his relationship and trust with his father for life. Lazarus’ family stayed at a boarding house in Catskills for the summer during school vacations, and he and two buddies were hanging out one August afternoon, bored. So what they decided to do was engage in a little remodeling, as the owner of the place was furious, the three mothers basically decided to let their husbands discipline the boys. The bingo players felt a strong lust for vengeance; they wanted to see some beatings. As Lazarus tells it, his friends' fathers came home first, one at a time. The first dad, took off his belt and began whipping his son, the second father came home and when he learned what happened, began thrashing his boy, slamming him to the ground and kicking him. Lazarus was now terrified; his father had never raised his hand in violence, but after seeing this, the young boy was truly afraid that he'd crossed the line. His father came home; the owner explained what had happened. Lazarus's dad stared at his son for a moment. Then he suddenly left. He got back into his car and drove off. He returned an hour later with a stack of Sheetrock boards tied to the top of his car. He took the sheetrock into the remains of the casino, and then took a hammer he'd bought at the hardware store out of the front seat, and went to work. He said not a word to anyone; he just rebuilt the casino, taking most of the night to do it. Lazarus was still worried about retribution in the morning, but none came. The father never mentioned the incident and the weekend went perfectly fine. Lazarus says that, while he knew his father was angry, the father also believed that
Angry Fathers Mel Lazarus, writer of Angry Fathers, showed by describing his relationship between him and his father, as he recalled an incident that happened when he was 9 years old, back in 1938, when corporal punishment was most used to correct bad behavior, “They’ll live, don’t worry “, was the common idea, that event marked his relationship and trust with his father for life. Lazarus’ family stayed at a boarding house in Catskills for the summer during school vacations, and he and two buddies were hanging out one August afternoon, bored. So what they decided to do was engage in a little remodeling, as the owner of the place was furious, the three mothers basically decided to let their husbands discipline the boys. The bingo players felt a strong lust for vengeance; they wanted to see some beatings. As Lazarus tells it, his friends' fathers came home first, one at a time. The first dad, took off his belt and began whipping his son, the second father came home and when he learned what happened, began thrashing his boy, slamming him to the ground and kicking him. Lazarus was now terrified; his father had never raised his hand in violence, but after seeing this, the young boy was truly afraid that he'd crossed the line. His father came home; the owner explained what had happened. Lazarus's dad stared at his son for a moment. Then he suddenly left. He got back into his car and drove off. He returned an hour later with a stack of Sheetrock boards tied to the top of his car. He took the sheetrock into the remains of the casino, and then took a hammer he'd bought at the hardware store out of the front seat, and went to work. He said not a word to anyone; he just rebuilt the casino, taking most of the night to do it. Lazarus was still worried about retribution in the morning, but none came. The father never mentioned the incident and the weekend went perfectly fine. Lazarus says that, while he knew his father was angry, the father also believed that