Divorced Fathers and Pizza Crusts - Essay Example

English language essay Divorced Fathers and Pizza Crusts Introduction In the cover page there is man sited alone, he is eating alone implying that his family is not with him. There are two empty plated which were used by the two kids he took out for dinner. The kids finish their pizza before him, thus have left the table, and he can be seen taking his time to clear the food. The poem’s setting is in a dinner table which has been displayed effectively by the cover page. The main character is a divorced man who probably is alone as shown on the cover page. The divorced father is not an excellent cook and opts to take his kid out for pizza. They take the friend of the kid out too for pizza. The fundamental question is, why would the divorced father and his kid take an extra company out to what should be a family dinner? Many opinions could rise from this basic question; one it could be that the divorced father is limited in appreciating family bonding which comes from exclusively family dinners. Secondly, the father would like his child to have an equal company with whom they could freely chat and feel free. On the other hand, the father could be avoiding questions from his kid like’ why did the mother leave? Or even how would their family be? Divorce is not an easy path for any couple, and sometime a parent craves for privacy to re-evaluate him/her reflecting the achievements and failures in marriage. Thus, the kid’s friend can be seen as a distraction for the divorced father who may offer him some private thinking. According to the poet, the entire weekend is supposed to be fun (stanza 1 line 3). The poet notes that kids love pizza because it involves soft warmth and malleability. Often, women are associated with soft warmth; the father tries to compensate the mothers’ sensational touch of warmth with provision of Pizza. “Kids approve of melted cheese on Pizza years before they will tolerate cheese in other situations” (Mark 1). This sentence has various implications when evaluated in the same context. It could imply that kids only approve of the biological parents when young, but as they mature and understand their parents more; they can allow new parents into their lives in case there is a divorce (Hunley 128-136). Cheese on pizza in this context can be used to imply intimate relationship experienced by married couples. Later on, children realize that melted cheese is not the only tasty cheese but also there exists other type of cheese which is good. In this case of the divorced father, the kid may later realize that “mom” was not the only good person for dad, but there are other eligible ladies who could be good to both of them. During dinner, the kids eat faster than father, the father slow pace of eating could be ascribed to his powerlessness to come to reality with his divorce state of affairs. While the kid has found a companion and moved on with life, the dad is yet to accept the turn of events. This also asserts that at times children cope faster with divorce than the parents if given the right condition. A pizza treat for this kid has helped him normalize with his friend while the dad may be still contemplating on the way forward. The author asserts that the kids participate in playing video games among other activities, which are said to make hail which cannot be scoured up (Stanza 2 line 4). Again, we ask ourselves; which is this hail which cannot be gutted up? Observably, it could be seen that the kids contributed to the divorce which seemed inevitable. The kids are playing and having fun without realizing that they are making hails. This shows that what one party in marriage considers health could be considered as harmful by the other party and lead to divorce (hail which cannot be scrubbed up). Only four slices are left, and the father does not want them to be wasted; there has been enough waste already; he sits there (Stanza 2 line 4). The four slices depicted here by the poet could point out to the total family members his family members were prior the divorce. The divorced father is caring because he does not want any of them wasted. By saying that there has been enough waste he could be pinpointing how messy the effects of divorce are. The divorce could have been beneficial, but the effects of it are not good (In his windbreaker concluding on the Pizza. It’s good with the exception of the crust actually not being so great (stanza 4 line 1 &2). The poet further asserts that the second crust is basically a chore (stanza 4 line 3), so he opts to leave it. Chores have to be done; thus, he has a responsibility to attend to the necessities of his child enthusiastically or unenthusiastically. There is a voice of desperation because the author asserts “so you leave it” (Stanza 4 line 4). The divorced father could have loved to do something about it, but he has no power over it thus subjects himself to fate. The divorced father also moves to the next loaded slice, and he is amid the rims of crust. This could mean that facing divorce entails making choices of living which may leave you central to the consequences. “Now the divorced father gathers the sauce-stained napkins for trash and dumps them” (Mark 1). This line implies that the divorced father has chosen to let go of the past. The sauce stained napkins can be equaled to the dirty rumours and scandals associated with divorce. He throws that napkins into the trash, this implies that he is over the negative effects of divorce and will not be willing to go back to it. Just the same way objects thrown to the dustbin are not retrieved back, he seems determined to move on with life. Notably, the poet says that the rims of the crust dumped are not corpses in a battlefield. Why would the poet compare the rims of the crust to corpses in a battlefield? Corpses in a battlefield refer to soldiers who had gone to war to fight but eventually died. More so the corpses in a battlefield are scattered all over and are subjected to be feasted by vultures among other scavengers. Hence, there is a glitter of hope in his divorce. Soldiers are usually trained on how to wage war against their enemies; it could be that he had prepared himself for a prosperous marriage which turned out to be bitter. Comparing the crust and the soldiers corpses indicate that his situation is not as helpless as he had earlier thought. In the third stanza, there divorced man is described by the author to be wearing a windbreaker and is finishing the pizza. The windbreaker is a lighter version of the jacket usually the jacket is considered heavy as opposed to the windbreaker. This implies that the divorced man’s mind could be getting lighter just as the windbreaker he is wearing. In the first stanza, we see him in search of pizza to bring fun to the weekend. In this 3rd stanza, it seems like the weekend is also ending just as he is finishing the pizza. The weekend gets him in a distressful mood, but towards the end of it he seems less stressed and is willing to move to the next load (line 3). The next load could imply the next step of his life. He has seen the damage that the divorce has to his life (stanza 2 line 6) there has been enough waste already. He asserts that all of it now understandable and there is no dark conspiracy (stanza 4 line 1). Notably, the kids have come to terms with the happenings and have realized the need to move on. “Meanwhile the kids are having a pretty good time which is the whole point” (Stanza 4 line 1) (Mark 1). It is evident that this other kid could be a new woman whom the divorced man wanted to introduce to his kid. His main agenda of the weekend out was to evaluate if this new woman could blend well with his kid. So the question is why would the poet use the word kid to refer to a mature woman? It could be because women and children are dependent on men, the fact that both depend on men could be a reason why the poet levels them to kids. But again in stanza 2 line 2 the “kid” whom we have identified as a woman is mentioned as a friend of kid of the divorced man, there seems to be no correlation at all. In my depiction, the divorced man was testing the waters on how this new woman could fit in with his new kid. The fact that he asserts there is no conspiracy proves that this new woman has no ill motives towards them. At this juncture, he summons them, and they follow because he’s a dad. He is certain that things will work out this time” Understandably, he fills the Pizza shop so thoroughly to the extent that there’s no room for anything else (Halliday 69-102). Works Cited Halliday, Mark. Jab: Campaign Promise. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002. Internet resource. Hunley, Tom C. The Poetry Gymnasium: 94 Proven Exercises to Shape Your Best Verse. Jefferson N.C: McFarland & Co., Publishers, 2012. Print. Mark, Halliday. Divorced Fathers and Pizza Crusts: The Poetry Foundation n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2014 . Read More