summary of father to son class 11
Answers
In the poem there is a father who feels the extreme pain of his son's detachment with him. Father understands the son as a child but the son has already begun considering himself as a grown up. A lot of space is left between the father and the son.
The father complains that he does not understand his own child. Though they have lived together for so many years now i.e. since the time of his son's birth, the father knows nothing of him. The father tries to build up a relationship with his son from the early years, in a manner when his son began to recognize people around, to crawl and to walk in a desperate attempt. The father wonders whether he has destroyed the seed of his off-spring or sown it where the land belongs to his heir and none is his.
Both father and son continue to speak like strangers now and there seem no signs of understanding in the air between the two. In traditional belief, the son is created and born to the likings and designs of his father, yet in this case, the father cannot share what his son loves. Most of the time silence surrounds them. The father's greatest wish is for his son to be 'The Prodigal' son who will very soon return to his father's house; the home which he always knew. This is definitely the better alternative rather than to see his son move out into the world blindly on his own, by himself and fall into trouble. The father is ready to forgive him at any cost as long as he is able to reshape him up from the long bounded sorrow to a new love.
Both father and son all over the world must learn to live on the same globe and on the same land. The father finally admits that there are times that he cannot understand himself or why his anger grows from grief? However they have learnt to put out each other's empty hand and with each other's heart that is longing for something to forgive.
Regards
Sahil suyal
Answer:
Father to Son’ describes the troubled relationship between a father and his son. The poem talks about generation-gap between the father and the son and voices the father’s pain and helplessness in failing to understand his child.
The father wants the same kind of bond with his son as he had when the son was a little child. But now, silence is what surrounds their relationship and there is a complete lack of communication between them. Though they have lived in the same house for years, they behave as strangers.
The father sees his son as the ‘the prodigal son’ who would soon return to his father’s house which was once his very own. The father is unable to understand why in his grief he becomes angry with his son.
As there is still love between both of them, they try to find out a way to resolve their differences but that seems futile. Elizabeth Jennings says that fathers and sons all over the world should learn to live on the same globe and same land. The poem talks about the universal problem – lack of communication and understanding.