Seeing past the negativity that comes from someone or something is a struggle that humans can face in life. It can be difficult to continue to like someone when all they do is cause you and others pain. In Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz," a son describes specific encounters with his alcoholic and abusive father. Roethke aims to present the son's feelings about these events in their relationship. If you look deeper, there are small details that allow the reader to look past this aspect of their relationship. Theodore Roethke uses specific imagery to clarify how the abuse negatively affected the son and makes it a point to provide the text with specific diction to allow the reader to realize that the son's love for his father is still present at the end. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Roethke made it a point to use words with positive connotations to allow the audience to get past the obvious negative aspect of his father/son. relationship. Reading the title for the first time, one might assume that the poem is a more positive reflection on the relationship between father and son. “Daddy” is normally put in a context with a more affectionate meaning. “Waltz” contains “a gentle rhythm that makes the fluid movements of the dance, as well as the elegant rises and falls, easy.” Because the waltz is considered a more graceful dance, this is why Roethke chose to include this word in the title. Readers were led to overlook this obvious struggle in the relationship. Roethke distracts the reader with diction that gives a happier meaning so that readers can clearly know that the son will always show affection towards his father. The son describes: “We frolicked until the pots slid off the kitchen shelf; ”, which tells us that their meeting could have been a ruckus because “broke up” is a verb that expresses the energetic playfulness of a child. Roethke deliberately uses the word "broken" in this context so that the audience doesn't get too caught up in the negativity the father projects from his violent actions. Because this word has a more positive meaning, its use only allows the reader to question whether this was real violence, which is what Roethke wishes to convey. As the poem continues, it is mentioned that the mother's expression at the situation in the kitchen leaves the reader wondering if it is a real ruckus. Her “impossible to frown face” shows that the mother is disappointed with what she sees, implying that violence is occurring. However, noticing the mother's expression justifies that it is indeed not a ruckus. As Roethke deliberately chooses to include diction like those mentioned in the poem for the reader to develop a better understanding of the son's admiration for his father, regardless of how violent their relationship may be. Specific images are used to express how the father acted in the poem. situations where he himself was not sober, but it was mostly there to clarify how traumatic these interactions could be for the son. In some instances in the poem, Roethke uses specific diction in the imagery describing the violence to show that the son is neglecting the pain and instead favoring his father: “The hand that held my wrist was struck on one knuckle; ". Grasping a wrist is usually an act of violence or anger, which creates for the reader an image of the aggressiveness of the/.