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  • Writer's pictureRegina Tantlinger

Suburbia: Happy or Not?

Even though World War II had a devastating effect on mush of Europe, here in America people flourished. After the war ended, white American middle class families experienced great economic gains. As mentioned in Writing the Nation, “[t]he GI Bill paid for an unprecedented number of young American men to attend colleges and buy homes, creating a huge professional middle class eager to work for the nation’s mighty high-tech corporations and live in its swiftly growing new suburbs” (52). Suburbia America had begun and along with it, happiness and joy, right? Well, some would disagree with you.

Theodore Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz” could be read as painting a bleak picture of a domestic homelife. Is the father an abusive man who beats his wife or child regularly? Is this just a fun, one-time thing of an innocent father roughhousing and having fun with his son? I believe that this poem can be read both ways because it depends on who the reader is. Is the reader someone who has been abused before and “[y]ou beat time on my head With a palm caked hard by dirt” (54) was a normal occurrence? Or is the reader someone who had a good childhood and this poem reminds them of their father roughhousing with them in the evening? One must also think of the time period in which this poem was written. During this time, it was common to not say anything if someone saw abuse happening. You let people be and did not interfere in their home lives. So, this poem could easily be about an adult finally being able to admit that he was abused by his father. This poem is complex and relies heavily on the readers interpretation of it. I want to use this poem in my future classroom because it is a great example of how different people interpret writing based on their own personal backgrounds.


Work Citied

Roethke, Theodore. “My Papa’s Waltz.” Writing the Nation: A concise introduction to American literature 1865 to present. Berke, et. Al. Editors. Online.


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