“In his drunken rage the old man staggered towards his son”
This happens when the father is intoxicated. The son feels shame towards his father. He hates his father because every time he goes to collect his father from a drunken state his father curses him
“Go to hell yuh little bitch”.
He sees his father as a drunk, heartless, useless, embarrassing, and worthless man.
At the end of the story the father is murdered by the son, this is not told but you can guess this creates suspense by not telling the reader what actually happens.
The relationship in the story the exercise shows a very close relationship between a father and a son it is very different compared to the drunkard of the river. The story shows a lot of love between father and son. It shows a homely, loving and caring father, who helps his son with his homework. The boy is very proud of his father. He is not ashamed even when his father gets his homework wrong. The son feels protected when he is with his father unlike Sona in the drunkard of the river. The father works and spends his money on the family; he gives his son pocket money. The son is so caring he willingly goes into the dark and waits for his father. The son gets caned by his teacher and he doesn’t tell his father when he comes home. Overall this story shows a strong bonded relationship between father and son.
The third story ‘kiss miss carol’ by Farrukh Dhondy also shows another relationship between father and son. This story talks about a son who is ashamed of his father because of the culture and tradition he follows. Jolil the son is a Bengali boy growing up in Brick Lane which is in East London. The boy is afraid of his father, the father preparing the boy for the world there is a lack of communication between the two of them. The father works as a tailor he is very strict and principled. He always follows the traditional values of his culture. He is a very religious man he prays 5 times a day as a Muslim should do.
This story similar to the exercise as both concerned with school but the relationship between father and son is different. There is also a racist theme in the story when an incident occurs with Jolil and his father. The father is very organised and hardworking. Overall this story shows a positive bond between the father and the son.
The ending of each story reinforces the relationship between father and son. These stories both show the negative and positive sides of a relationship. To sum it all up all I have to say is that all stories have one thing in common and that is called respect! There is no respect in drunkard of the river.
I personally enjoyed and understood all the stories however, my favourite one was kiss miss carol because I could relate to it in my own ways because I also have my rules that I obey and traditional values that I have to follow.
