This paper will analyze the poems My Father is a Simple Man by Luis Omar Salinas and A Red Palm by Gary Soto. These poems differ in their mood but have related topics. My Father is a Simple Man states that even an ordinary working person with little education can be called great when being kind and honest. The readers can see that man through the eyes of his son, who is proud of him. A Red Palm shows a laboring father regretting lost opportunities but hoping to give a good education to his children for them to have a better life. Thus, both poems represent a picture of the world of simple people and discuss parental and education issues.
My Father is a Simple Man implies that a person’s features are more important than status or education. The poem starts with a picture of a father and son walking together and having a talk. It is evident that the son admires his father and sees him as a decent and kind person, “I’d gladly give my life for this man with a sixth-grade education, whose kindness and patience are true.” In this phrase, the author contrasts a low level of education to the high moral qualities of the character. The son considers his father to be great, “I shall have learned what little there is about greatness.” Through the father’s image, the author shows the values of life, implying that such features as kindness show a true person’s nature, and against this background, the level of education is not so significant.
Discussing parental issues, it is possible to point out that the father and son have respect and love for each other. The author paints a deep picture of their relationship through small details. We can see that the father cares for his son, “He’s sure I’ll be healthy so long as I eat more oranges.” Their discussion of oranges smoothly moves to eternal questions of life and death. The father wants to teach the son his wisdom, saying, “The orange has seeds and so is perpetual; and we too will come back like the orange trees.” It is possible to agree that the man sets an example to his son through his qualities and behavior and hopes to bring him up as a wise, honest, and decent man.
The structure of the poem also helps to express the mentioned topics. It is free verse; therefore, it does not have rhyme and rhythm. This form contributes to the creation of a simple picture reflecting deep thoughts. It seems as if the author tells us the story filling it with details such as “He walks slower,” “The street is filled with children.” In addition, the poem’s structure allows more storytelling tone and represents the depicted picture as more realistic.
The poem A Red Palm raises education and parenthood topics as well but in a different tone. In this poem, education is seen as one of the most significant parts of life. The father regrets that he was “a fool in school” and now has to work hard on the field of cotton plants to feed the family. However, he cannot provide himself and his family with a desirable level of life, as can be seen through money concerns, “That costs money, yellow light / In the kitchen.” He hopes his children will not have to work so hard for little money and thinks the way to a better life lies through better education. He asks his son, “What’s forty times nine?” and smiles when he hears the right answer. Thus, in this poem, the importance of education comes to the forefront, implying the protagonist’s dreams and hopes.
The poems possess common views on the father and son relationships. As well as the father from Salinas’s poem, the man in A Red Palm hopes for a good life for his sons and wants them to become better than he is. One may agree that these hopes also imply his deep love for his children. It is also possible to assume that sons have good relationships with their father as the oldest son runs to him to call home, “Papa, he says, it’s time to come in.” Thus, in this poem, the father encourages his children to be wiser and achieve more in their life.
The poem does not have a rhyme or rhythm as well. However, that structure also contributes to a better understanding of the depicted picture and the character’s feelings. The character shares his thoughts with the readers, reflecting on the past, present, and future. As well as in My Father is a Simple Man, this structure helps the readers to see the picture as more realistic and straightforward. It is worth noting that the author, nevertheless, uses internal rhymes in some lines, for instance, “The wind makes peace with the trees.” It helps to emphasize details, for example, making the mentioned sentence sound softer, echoing with the created image of peace.
One may conclude that discussed poems raise common themes of education and parenthood. Education is seen with different levels of its significance that makes poems contrast in some way. However, the relations of fathers and children are shown in a similar mood. The same goes for the poems’ structure allowing the authors to create a more vivid and realistic image. Analyzing two poems, the readers can better understand the characters’ picture of the world and their values. During poems’ comparison, it also becomes evident that even people from the same working-class may have a completely different background that makes them have so much and so little in common at the same time.