“A Story”
The poem entitled “A Story” by Li-Young Lee vehemently depicts the relationship between the father and the son. As the son is yearning to hear a new story, one begins to notice that the father is abashed by the thought of his son growing up. The author exerts literary devices, and also different types of emotions to accentuate the father’s fear of losing his son. The speaker uses emotions, selection of detail, and structure to show that this is an emotional equation that happens on a worldwide basis.
“ Not the same story, Baba. A new one.” This supplication caused fear in the father. “ The man rubs his chin, and scratches his ear.” The father comes to realize that his 5-year-old son wants new things; he starts feeling anxiety when he starts living far ahead. “He sees the day this boy will go.” He starts to think that his son will soon give up on him. This is when the emotions start to stir up; he also loses hope and faith that his son will stay a boy forever.
The author’s selection of detail emphasizes that the father grows weary to the change that he is visioning in his son. He mentions that there are millions of books in the world, but he could not think of a simple one. “…the boy is packing his shirts, he is looking for his keys…” The father, the man is seeing the future as if it was happening right then and there. He see’s his son already given up on him, he already sees his son leaving the house, and he already sees his son as a man. Everything he is fearing, he sees in his visions. He does not want it to become a reality. The father could not let go of his 5-year-old son.
“A Story” is structured in a way so that one could envision the feeling of what it is to have, what you say is still your child, leave the house and begin to live their own life. The father wants to keep being his son’s storyteller, as well as, stay his father forever. “Don’t go! Hear the alligator story! …angel story…You love the spider story … Let me tell it!” This creates the scenario that the father is fearing once again, not only that but it also shows the love he has for his son.
All the 5-year-old wants is his father to tell him a new story, but the father fails to do so. The man is so intrigued because his son wants a new story instead of one of the stories he is used to telling everyday. “But the boy is here, Please, Baba, a story?” He does not want to disappoint his son, or ruin the connection they have, as father and son. Unfortunately, “the boy’s supplications and a father’s love add up to silence.” The father is more worried about his son growing up into a man rather than worrying about one simple new story.