American Literature

American Literature

Introduction

The end of the World War signaled the end of an era. Millions of males who had been engaged in fighting on the borders of their countries or even in foreign lands finally returned home in order to reap the fruits of their labors, the freedom their hard fighting and military campaign had won for their countries. The society had changed hugely from the time of their absence, giving the females a chance to partake in the commercial and industrial area, which was once upon a tome completely considered to be a domain of the males. This gave rise to the concept of equality and the modern concept of a 'working woman'. However, the return of the troops had almost just as much of an effect on the society as their departure. In the following paper, three literary works namely, Theodore Roethke's “My Papa's Waltz”, Eudora Welty's “Petrified Man” and James Baldwin's “Going to Meet the Man”.

Discussion

In the first poem by Theodore Roethke, my papa's waltz is about a child who is dancing with her father much to the disapproval of her mother. Her father is described as a man who was drunk at the time and even though the child was revolted by the smell of alcohol from his breath she didn't mind.

“The whiskey on your breath

Could make a small boy dizzy” (Roethke, 1961)

Then the poets' words hint that her father was actually a veteran. The child describes of being held with a hand that had a stump signifying an occurrence on duty which had claimed his finger.

“The hand that held my wrist

Was battered on one knuckle” (Roethke, 1961).

Additionally the next line talks about the buckle when the child bumps her head on to whenever there is a misstep in the timing of the ...