Raymond Carvers poem Photograph of My Father In His 22nd...

The Theme of Raymond Carvers poem Photograph of My Father In His 22nd Year Growing up we all had expectations of who we should be imposed upon us by our parents. Whether or not we achieved those expectations upon reaching adulthood isnt really the final outcome. There is a greater lesson learned regardless of how we benefited from the imposition. And that realization is what truly shapes our final character. Raymond Carver entertains this topic in his poem, Photograph of My Father in His Twenty-second Year. In this poem Carver provides us with a beautifully touching slice of life that is not only flawless in writing and technique, but that connects and emotionally evokes feelings that are universal in all†¦show more content†¦The young man continues in the description saying, In jeans and denim shirt, he leans against the front fender of a 1934 Ford (6-7). These details help to set-up the false image the young mans father is trying to convey. Upon growing up and then looking back on his father, the young man is able to provide the retrospect ive comment, He would like to pose bluff and hearty for his posterity, wear his old hat cocked over his ear (8-9). This statement illustrates the fact that the young man, upon looking back, has realized that his father desperately tried to project a self image uncharacteristic to his actual self. He is fully aware of whom he is looking at, but just like the kitchen, it feels completely alien to him. The young man states that he can tell his father is attempting to falsify his look and attitude for the sake of his son. The last line of the stanza reinforces this idea when the son proclaims, All his life my father wanted to be bold (10). This comment comes from a young man who has obviously lived his entire life in the shadow of a man constantly trying to be something he wasnt. The reader gets the idea that the son was constantly subjected to his fathers influence upon him to be tough and masculine just like his dad. The last line of the stanza relays to the reader the notion t hat the young man only realized his fathers masked character upon looking back over the course