"Putting Daddy On" by Tom Wolfe

Tom Wolfe's essay tells of a memory he recalled of himself accompanying his friend Parker to visit his dropout, misfit son, Ben. They venture into the Lower East Side of NYC to find him living like a hippie holed up in a crummy apartment filled with strange slang and other misfits. Sounds strange, but since Tom Wolfe is such an accredited writer (even admired by Kurt Vonnegut!) one can expect nothing but greatness from this essay.

Tom Wolfe, 2005
Photo taken by Henry Leutwyler

The story goes on to provide the immediate context showing that the setting takes place in 1964. This important year in the sixties explains why Wolfe described Parker as a "casualty of the information crisis" (280). Since he spent most of his growing-up time in the fifties, Parker was unable to adapt to the fast-changing nature of the sixties.

Wolfe's essay describes the ever-changing relationship between a father and son. It is obvious that Parker did not play the role of a father well when Ben was growing up, since he ended up a bum. Now, to try and reverse the damage he has done, Parker must 'put on' his sense of being a father to present himself with some sort of authority. 

The purpose of writing this essay was for the author to show the effect of a father who continuously tries to control his son and constantly be part of his life. The more Parker tried to change Ben's ways and act 'hip' around him, the more estranged Ben became. 

At the end of the essay, Parker says to Wolfe, "I threw out everything I had. I couldn't make anything skip across the pond. None of them. Not one" (287). This imagery really shows how unfortunate it was that Parker and Ben could never connect. I think that this quote could stand alone and still make it that Wolfe accomplished his purpose in showing the relationship.

"How It Feels to Be Colored Me" by Zora Neale Hurston

Hurston, 1938
Photo taken by Carl Van Vechten

This widely-praised essay by Zora Neale Hurston describes her struggle with her identity during the time when segregation was still present in America. She focuses on how discovering her own 'colored-ness' never led her to become ashamed of herself. Despite the discrimination she faced after leaving her exclusively black hometown, she found that it never angered her--she was too busy "sharpening her oyster knife" (115).

Being that Hurston's essay was featured in The Best American Essays of the Century makes is simple to see that she was a gifted writer. How It Feels to Be Colored Me challenged the mindsets of Americans when it was first written, and continues to do so today. However, her legacy as an author is not confined to this one piece. She has written four novels and over fifty short stories and essays. Written in 1928, this particular essay takes place in the deep south of Florida. Hurston recalls experiences from when she was thirteen years old, around 1904.

Hurston's purpose in writing this essay was to provoke the common thought that our race is what primarily defines us. In discovering this I also found that her intended audience is Americans with some prior knowledge of segregation throughout history.

I found that Hurston's method of accomplishing her purpose was by all means effective. The thing that stood out to me the most in Hurston's attempt to achieve her purpose was the analogy she used towards the end of the essay. She compares herself to a brown bag filled with random items, and others as different colored paper bags containing other random things. Hurston uses this analogy to say how our exterior 'color' does no predetermine what our interior holds, and that the "Great Stuffer of Bags" (117), or perhaps God, intended us to be this way.

"They All Just Went Away" by Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates defines what a home really is when she recalls an unforgettable experience from her childhood. She enjoyed exploring abandoned houses and one of those houses near her own belonged to the Wiedel's. Mr. Wiedel was an alcoholic who beat his wife and children, sexually abused his daughters, shot the family dog, Slossie and allegedly attempted to burn the house down while his family slept. As Oates remembers more and more of the Wiedel's story, she learns what makes a house a home and what gives something value.

Joyce Carol Oates
Photo taken by Marion Ettlinger

The essay takes place when Oates is still a child up until her first few years of high school in Millersport, New York. Her purpose in writing the essay is to show how a house can fail to be a home even when there are people inhabiting, and so starts the story of the Wiedels. She tells the story for an audience that either shares her same love for adventure, or is intrigued by tragedy. I relate to both, which is why I enjoyed the essay so much (despite the depressing tone). 

Oates uses intricate metaphors and imagery to describe the misfortune of the Wiedels. "For so many years the Wiedel house remained standing. There was something defiant about it, like someone who has been mortally wounded but will not die" (560). It was because of her adventurous spirit that Oates was able to discover this. Sometimes the most awful of events that grace the progression of time can produce the strongest results. The house, the Wiedel children who eventually went on to be admired, and the stories that will serve as a lesson to others.