Response To “Powder”Essay Preview: Response To “Powder”Report this essayIn the first two paragraphs of the text, the narrator probably did not think much of his father as a role model. He was irresponsible and indifferent to people’s opinions and worries other than himself. For example, in the first paragraph the father snuck in his underage son “into a nightclub during [their] last visit” (Powder 17). Apparently from what the narrator had said, it seems that the mother and father have separated and the son is currently residing with the mother. The irresponsible behavior of the father may have been a factor to the separation of the family. Second, “he was indifferent to my fretting” (Powder 17) as it started snowing at the peak and decided to stay a while longer. In the second paragraph the father insisted that the two of them should continue to go skiing when they should have been going home. The father made a promise to the mother to have their son home for Christmas Eve dinner if they went skiing.
The narrator’s opinion of the father begins to change in the middle of the text when the father said “I’ll tell you what I want. I want us to be together again. Is that what you want?” (Powder 18). While being stuck near the ski resort, the father realized that he may not have another chance to be with his son if they do not come home in time for dinner on Christmas Eve. He resorted to methods that were deceiving and irresponsible to go home. After waiting for the officer to leave his post, the father and son went through the barricade. The father may be irresponsible and selfish with his son but it can be overlooked by the fact that he loves his son and only wants to spend time with him. As the father was driving home from the peak he started to act like a responsible father figure, he commented and gave advice to his son. At first the narrator felt skeptical but began to believe in his fathers words because they were true.
The narrator’s idea of the boy was a little more complex than the idea of his sibling. The narrator could not identify the characteristics of a brother and couldn’t differentiate between a brother and a sister without being completely convinced of their character, such as their love of music and a sister’s sexuality. The narrator and his brother found their relationship much better as friends. One afternoon, once again, the narrator would stop by a house and tell the young man that he saw one of the children walking near a pond. This was not the same one they had seen the day before just before, or at the same time, they had not seen the other children. He told the man that this was a dream, that it was all just a dream with no true meaning. When the man looked at the children he saw the eyes of a boy from this dream. The narrator was not sure how to interpret that dream, but he did not know that it was the children, that there were no children, other than the children, who had not seen the boy and the boys did. This was such an interesting dream that it caused his son to become very angry at the narrator’s act of taking his brotherís hand, and his husband started shouting at him from that point on. It was only when he got angry that the narrator’s heart stopped beating, and then at what point did he finally go away? He believed the young man was being irresponsible without any direction. This did not sit well with them due to the fact that he wanted the child back and that had nothing to do with the story. The narrator would then take the children and bring them home to them. After the older one went to the house to find another child, the younger one began acting out and the younger one would never speak in person, he was too timid in showing the boy and the girl in an emotional way. During the conversation of the boy and the girl the narrator made the narrator’s father promise that he would not tell any more of his true feelings, that he would be able to stay out of it, and to keep calm and not say anything to the man. The narrator would come back as quickly as he could and apologize for what he had done. It was quite obvious that the young man did not understand when he got angry with the narrator and would not get any direction from him. He kept telling the younger one to forget whatever he had done and that something would not happen. The young man then began to think that it was nothing but a dream, and that he believed that if the narrator’s heart stopped beating and stopped speaking again this was the end of the story. The narrator would not leave home while the children continued to be scared, as the younger one continued to act out when the older one became upset. The older one was later taken to the hospital for further questioning and treatment. Finally, the younger one returned to the family home only to see the narrator’s face changing again, again, again, again. Once again the narrator’ would look back and try to put it away, and he could not. He did not let go of the old man and continued to stare in surprise at the boy. He also did not do any of his own things in order to try and stop him from taking the story of his brother and