"Like father like son." Throughout time, fathers and sons have been compared to one another and the boys have tried to follow a model that their dad has established for them. In medieval ages, boys would take the job of their fathers once they came of age. The same is true for the Hindu class system in India. But in this new day of age, doesn’t this statement seem somewhat sexist? Women have spent the last century fighting to eliminate chivalry and gain equality. The appropriate statement for today’s world would be "Like father like child", or some could even venture so far to say "Like father like daughter." In Carson McCullers’ The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, there is a relationship between Mick Kelly and her father that is very common. While her father is a very caring man, he recognizes that Mick is growing into a woman and cannot always give him her time. Their relationship has begun to fade, much like many other adolescents and their parents, and it is rare that they get a chance to talk. In her essay entitled "No More Lollipops", Debra Adams discusses the faded relationship she has with her father as well. She misses his fondness in her youth, but knows that she had no choice but to move on. Both literary works exemplify the maturing of a girl into a woman and how that affects their relationships with their fathers.

In "No More Lollipops", Debra’s father is very caring and loving, however he realizes that she is becoming less and less dependant on him. The cute and fun things he had done with her in the past he knows are now inappropriate. Debra even states that she has outgrown this play. The inference could be made that on the outside Debra might be embarrassed by the actions of her father if they were not fitting for her age. However, Debra also states in her essay that she misses the fun they used to have together. Besides just his playfulness, it also appears that Debra has slowly grown apart from her father and that their relationship has weakened. "From him, no more hugs, no more kisses, no more pride in his voice when he introduced me to clients or temple members while I shyly hid behind a leg." Even after a girl has outgrown the playing and joking with her father, they should still hug and kiss each other, and I feel that this may be what Debra truly misses. She pretends to miss the funny and foolish things she did with her father when she was younger, however she may just really miss having a loving father who hugs and kisses her frequently. There may have been a specific event that sparked this loss of love in their relationship as well. Debra says, "You have to stop holding onto the past and grow up." Reading that quote for what it says would have you thinking that she just needs to move on because she has outgrown some of the playing they used to do together. However, there may be an underlying meaning that she has to just move on and forget her past because she can no longer have the same relationship with her father. A girl becoming an adolescent and no longer playing with her father is common and not worthy of writing an essay about, but a girl who is no longer loved by her father is a significant and unique situation. Debra ends her essay by stating that she wants it to be "just like when I was daddy’s little girl." Most fathers always consider their daughters to be their "little princesses" and this may be her way of saying she just wants her father to love her again.

In Carson McCullers’ The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Mick Kelly is a girl who has also begun to outgrow the childhood closeness she had with her father however, it is clear that she still loves him. "There was something about her dad’s voice that she couldn’t run away from" (83). Her father’s voice symbolizes the love and respect that she has for her him, and Mick cannot deny these feelings, even as she enters her teenage years. Her schedule is busy, with her working and taking care of her siblings, and this may be the cause of some drifting in her relationship with her father, but Mick still loves him and gives up a free night she has to sit and talk with him. She knows that her family is going through some rough financial problems that her father may feel responsible for, but Mick does not hold this against him and is happy to just see that he is enjoying the beers that he can barely afford. She is happy when he is happy, and this shows that she is very unselfish and that she loves him very much. Not being a girl and being able to witness the interactions between a father and daughter, I am forced to assume that this is a much more common relationship between an aging father and an adolescent daughter.

In these two works of literature, the girls have very different relationships with their fathers. Both girls love their fathers very much, but it appears that Debra’s relationship has truly dwindled, while Mick’s has only faded because of a busy schedule and the lack of time for one another. Debra wishes that she could go back to the days when she was "daddy’s little girl", but Mick is perfectly happy where she is. Overall, Mick has a much more optimistic outlook on her relationship, and knows that any decline in their closeness is only due to financial problems, busy schedules, and her teenage mentality. Debra, on the other hand, has a negative view on her relationship now and doesn’t see it getting much better in the future. She only wishes to go back in time to when she had a strong relationship with her father. The one common feeling that these girls do share is that they love their fathers very much and the fathers have only allowed the relationship to fade because they feel their daughters are out growing it.

Teenage years have been known to tear relationships apart between parents and their children, and this is no different for Debra and Mick. As they mature into young women, their fathers play a lesser role in their lives and their relationships will change. Not until they are older women and become dependant on their parents for advice on raising a family will these girls turn back to their fathers. This is the case in almost all father-daughter relationships and has been for a long time. Although Mick has a more positive outlook on her future than Debra does, I feel that both will eventually return to that close relationship with their fathers that they once had.