What Are We Up To?
After introducing writing this year in a jigsaw style as you could see in my last blog post, it was time to put into practice some of those writing skills as a whole.
For our second essay of the school year, my students read a short story called “Father’s Eyes” and were asked to respond to the conflicts of the story.
Writing Task
You have read “Father’s Eyes,” a short story about the relationship between a father and his son. Write an essay identifying the main conflict and how the author develops the conflict throughout the story. Be sure to use specific evidence to support your response.
Student Response
We all have had to show strength when we are down, whether it’s helping someone out when they are having a bad day, or when we are trying to prove ourselves to someone. This is true in the short story “Father’s Eyes” written by an unknown author who describes a son that plays football and his father supports him and encourages him to keep doing it if he wants to play. Eventually, when the son goes to college his father passes away. The son begs the coach to let him play in the game that weekend and does everything in the game correctly. When the coach asks how he did it, the son says that his father was blind and that was the first game he could actually watch him play. In this heartfelt story, the main conflict is the son trying to convince his coach to let him play the final game, so his father could finally watch him play.
In the story the coach refused to let him play in the game, causing conflict between the son and coach. In “Fathers Eyes” it says, “The coach pretended not to hear him. There was no way he wanted his worst player in this close playoff game. But the young man persisted, and finally, feeling sorry for the kid, the coach gave in” (Unknown 2). If the coach never let the son play, the story would’ve felt open-ended because the son would’ve never felt like he proved himself to his bind, dead father, and there would not be a very good conclusion. Because the coach wouldn’t let the son play, it caused a conflict that was later resolved by the coach giving in.
When the coach actually let him play, it ended with a good result. In the passage it says, “‘How did you do it?’ The young man looked at the coach, with tears in his eyes, and said, “Well, you knew my dad died, but did you know that my dad was blind?’ The young man swallowed hard and forced a smile, ‘Dad came to all my games, but today was the first time he could see me play.’” (Unknown 2). This quote shows the resolution that came out of the conflict of the coach not allowing the son of the blind man to play until the coach felt pity for him. If the coach never let him play, this story could have ended very differently. Because the coach let the son play, the result was very good. The team won the game, and the son felt like he made his dad proud.
The coach not allowing the blind man’s son to play in the football game was the main conflict in the story “Father’s Eyes.” The determination the son shows throughout the story to prove himself to his father is really inspiring to me and more than likely to many other readers as well. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “A vow is a fixed and unalterable determination to do a thing. When such a determination is related to something noble, it can only uplift the man who makes the resolve.”
Writing Details
I have a very gifted class this school year and am excited to continue to pull out their analytical styles throughout the year as we continue to develop their writing.
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