Relationships

Webster’s defines relationship as"a particular type of connection existing between people related to or having dealings with each other. The book Heart is a Lonely Hunter and the short story "No More Lollipops" both look at the relationship between a father and his daughter.

In the passage from The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, we see a complex relationship developing between Mick and her father. Her father is a described as "he was one of the biggest and tallest men in the whole town. But his voice was so quiet and kindly that people were surprised when he spoke."(p.83) To Mick her dad’s voice was like a rope it always pulled her in. On this night Mick was in a rush heading out the door when she heard her father’s voice calling her. She stopped in her tracks and went to him. During their conversation Mick saw something about her father. She realized that he was lonely and felt left out by his family. "He was lonesome and he was an old man. Because of none of the kids went to him for anything and because he did not earn much money he felt like he was cut off from the family." After this encounter Mick said she felt a little older, she finally saw her father as a person not just as a father.

In the short piece "No More Lollipops" by Debra Adams is another example of a father daughter relationship. Debra tells us about her childhood memories about her father. We learn about a night time routine that she would share with her father. Every night her dad would bring her down stairs for snack time on his shoulders pretending he did not know how she arrived there. "And it seemed like that nothing pleased me more then that ride on his shoulders night after night." We learn quickly that this relationship does not last forever. In the next sentence Debra says," I do not know when it stopped. It seems I just woke up one morning and I was no longer daddy’s little girl. No more piggyback rides….no more lollipops." In growing up Debra becomes more distant and independent from her father.

Both stories The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and the short story "No More Lollipops" show a relationship between a father and a daughter. In "No More Lollipops" it seems that Debra’s relationship with her father seems to change drastically, as she gets older she moves away from her father. She says "No more hugs, no more kisses, no more pride in his voice when he introduces me to his clients or temple members while I shyly hid behind his leg." Debra has become an independent young adult she has learned to deal with things without the assistance her father. "But now if I skin my knee I wash it clean. If I don’t get my way, I accept it. As for Mick from the novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter she seems to have a closer relationship with her father as she gets older. It seems that her father needs her more and more as she grows up. He feels lonely and left out so she takes time for him. "He was lonesome and he was an old man. Because of none of the kids went to him for anything and because he did not earn much money he felt like he was cut off from the family." The two fathers that were discussed seem different. Mick and her father still have a close relationship and as for Debra and her father they had a close relationship when she was young but as she grew the relationship seemed to have grown apart.

The two passages form the book Heart is a Lonely Hunter and the short story "No More Lollipops" illustrates the relationship between father and daughter and shows how over a period of time that relationship can change.