Analysis Of 'A Story' By Li-Young Lee

People struggle to deal with change as it is scary and presents its own challenges to adapt to new circumstances; however, it is change that often sparks important growth. In the poem “A Story” by Li-Young Lee, the author uses a third person point of view, specific dialogue, and a creative structure in order to illustrate the growth in the relationship between the father and son and the complexities that are anticipated to arise as things change. Li-Young Lee tells the story from a third person limited point of view as the author focuses on the father and tells us his thoughts and feelings throughout the poem. The story is told from the father’s perspective, and his affection for his son is clearly displayed as he wants to please his son
In the beginning of the poem, the son refers to the father as “Baba” which shows the affectionate and innocent side of the boy when he is little. The boy is pleading with his dad to tell him a story, yet the roles are reversed later when the father is begging for the son to allow him to tell a story to him. This ironic switch of roles shows the complex relationship as the father is not in the position of authority that he should be in to begin with. The father is supposed to be the leader and role model for the son, and the father is worried about things changing in the future. He sees the point where the son is a grown man and is no longer in need of his father for everything. When the son becomes a man, he will no longer have the same innocent and affectionate characteristics he has now, and he will rely on his father in a different way. However, again the father is failing the son in his present need for a story therefore setting the precedent that the father will not fulfill the needs of the son and that he is not reliable because he cannot live in the moment. Relationships in themselves are complex as they grow and change overtime, but the father is unable to enjoy the different stages of his relationship with his son because he is constantly worried about the
The author says “Already the man lives far ahead” as the father is focused upon the son growing up into a man. The father is afraid of his son growing up and the dynamic of their relationship changing. The father is obsessed with his son’s perspective of him as he enjoys the son’s idealistic view where he views his father as a great storyteller, but as the son will mature he will realize how his perception is not accurate. The father does not want his relationship with his son to change, but his fear does not let him maintain his son’s current perspective because he cannot tell him a story. The father keeps getting sucked into his alternative reality where he cannot appease his son with stories instead of enjoying the time where he can in the present. The father over thinks and does not live in the moment with his son. The father is never presented as a confident and strong character like what is expected as he is only seem as a paranoid parent and a begging one in the future. This shows that the father is so worried about perfecting his relationship with his son that he cannot be a good father in the