Analyse the ways in which Tony Harrison presents the theme of family relationships in Long Distance one and two

Authors Avatar

“Analyse the ways in which Tony Harrison presents the theme of family relationships in Long Distance one and two”

One may believe that it is family and social class is the root of your personality. An example of this maybe found through the literature of Tony Harrison, a great poet and playwright found in the twentieth century era. A number of his poetic developments mainly reside on the subject of his journey from the working class, onto an education at Leeds University which allowed him to prosper in the field of linguistics. An example of this is found in the poem “Then” and “[uz]”. Here, the narrator is denounced by their head master for mispronunciation of a poems first line: “mi’art aches” with the reaction of “mines broken you barbarian t.w.”. One may suggest that this shows that the narrator’s culture is being condemned by the Headmaster, who believed that colloquial language is inappropriate. We also see this in many other poems of his which could suggest his awareness of the distance between his past and present existence. A poem to portray this detachment of his culture; may be found in the poems “long distance 1” and “long distance 2”.

The poem “long distance 1”begins with the first stanza as subtext; suggesting that a person is being spoken to or is retrospectively speaking of an emotional problem; “your bed’s got two wrong sides”. The “long distance 2” on the other hand, begins with a set narrator who is speaking of their dead mother: “though my mother was already two years dead Dad kept her slippers warming in the gas”. This provides a contrast between the two poems and how they differ in the representation of the family relationships. As we read on, it seems that the first poem is a concise conversation of a father and his son, speaking of the grievance which the father has on account of his wife dying. For the son, this does not seem to be as big of a problem to him, which could therefore portray the emotional distance between the narrator and his family. This is also suggested through the possibility of the son, also living a distance away from his father. This may be inclined through the use of ‘Lifesaver’ sweets, being bought as a present in JFK airport (USA) when meeting his Dad: “Lifesavers…. Only bought rushing through JFK as a last resort”. In term of the latter poem, this seems to show how after two years passing since the narrators mothers death, the father is still in denial, however he later dies, leaving the narrator alone to grieve over him. In this poem, although the narrator seemed uncaring to his father’s objections to his mother’s death, it seems that in this instance, that he longs to hear his bitter words of complaint as opposed to the silence which is now on earth, forever. With the differing forms and structures of the two poems, this may create the idea that although at times, society can change us, it is the dramatic changes in our lives that can make us see more profoundly on the subjects that we took or take for granted. This may be backed up in the first stanza of the first poem, in comparison to the last stanza in the second poem. The spontaneous conversation of the son and father in “long distance 1” seems to create the picture of a quarrel between the two, concerning the bitter account of the burden of being a widower. Their voices are made known through the use of Standard English “I let your phone-call take its dismal course"; whilst the other, through the use of Yorkshire dialect “Carrots choke us wi’out your mam’s white sauce!”. In this stanza, we are met by the sons disapproval of the fathers anger by suggesting he is never happy anymore: “Your bed’s got two wrong sides. You life’s all grouse”. This is then replied with a possible ‘cry for help’ as the father replies: “Ah, can’t stand it no more, this empty house!”. Contrastingly, in the last stanza of “long distance 2”, it appears that although the narrator saw his father’s phone calls as ‘dismal’ before; now that he has gone, the narrator is lost without him as he still relies on hearing the voice of his father for comfort; showing the love that was always there: “in my new black leather phone book there’s your name and the disconnected number I still call.

Join now!

On the subject of imagery to suggest family relationships, Tony Harrison does this throughout a number of ways. One example of this, is found in “long distance 1”; inside of the four line, first stanza. With the line: “Carrots choke us wi’out your mam’s white sauce!”, one may suggest that through the use of Yorkshire dialect, whilst the son is speaking in traditional English; it may be perceived that this provides us with the idea that the son may possibly have a higher intellect in comparison with his father, or may even show that his culture has partially been removed ...

This is a preview of the whole essay