In Harry Mark Petrakis' short story "Song of Rodanthe" and Amanda Michalopoulou's short story "The Firefly Hunt", the themes revolve around how parents' decisions affect their children. In "Song of Rodanthe", the main character is not allowed to choose the man he wants to marry unless his father approves. In "The Firefly Hunt", the main character tries to reconnect with his children after divorcing their mother. The subject of male figures attempting to control the women around them is common in Greek culture and writing. In Petrakis and Michalopoulou's stories, the reader sees how daughters are influenced by the choices their fathers make. Michalopoulou is selectively descriptive when it comes to the main character's unnamed father. With Michalopoulou's description of the father, the reader is led to believe that he does not care about his children: "He had gotten used to their backs, but it had been a long time since he had seen their faces » (Michalopoulou, 77 years old). ). Throughout the story, we can see that the father is not quite as he is initially perceived. The father sneaks out and starts cheating on his wife. The reader is informed that the wife is wheelchair bound and unable to move due to paralysis. When the father is “caught” cheating, he leaves home and begins a life with his mistress, a young real estate agent. Feeling bad about leaving his two children, he tries to reconnect with them. The children, Christina and Stella, think what the father did to their mother was “horrible”. Leaving home not only affected the mother, but them as well, given that they were both so young. The father does not really understand that by divorcing their mother, he did the same thing to them: "'When you are older,... in the middle of paper...... the children find themselves in the inability to make decisions for themselves or end up rebelling. The opposite is true in "The Firefly Hunt", as the girls do not have a father figure for a period of time, thus forcing them to take care of them. from each other and growing up faster than they should In Harry Mark Petrakis's short story "Song of Rodanthe" and Amanda Michalopoulou's short story "The Firefly Hunt", the concept of parents' actions affecting their children. plays a major role. Even as a twenty-seven-year-old woman, Rodanthe is not allowed to make decisions for herself. She is forced to play a role that makes her sad and alone. ", Christina and Stella are forced to grow up faster than they should due to their father's absence. stories show how girls are influenced by the choices their fathers make.