"The distance is family relationships"

It is very significant for a daughter to have an understanding and warm relationship with her father. Yet, the relationship may change between father and daughter as time moves on. It goes from fun and play to distance and maturence. In the novel, The Heart is A Lonely Hunter, written by Carson McCullers, Mick demonstrates her love towards her father. In the article "No more Lollipops," written by Debra Adams, she shows that a father daughter relationship gets more distant as time passes.

In the novel, The Heart is A Lonely Hunter, Mick demonstrates a distinct love for her father. She constantly finds time to listen to her father express himself. She realizes that her father is a very loving man who wants to give her the world. As a growing adolescent she is very sympathetic towards this. She also comes to realization with the fact that her father feels like an outcast of the family, since he no longer has a job and the strength he once possessed. She also comes to realization with the fact that her father has turned into an old man, and no one turns to him for help anymore. Her father gets comfort from the fact that he at least still has one child that he could talk to. "Because none of the kids went to him for anything and because he didn’t earn much money he felt like he was cut off from the family. And in his lonesomeness he wanted to be close to one of the kids – and they were all so busy they didn’t know it. He felt like he wasn’t much real use to anybody" (85). Mick provides comfort for her father by showing love and support when he is in a time of need.

In Debra Adams’ article, "No More Lollipops," a relationship between a father and daughter is presented at two different stages in the daughter’s life. When she is still a young child, she looks up to her father in many ways. She would love being in her company and she would enjoy playing games with him, talking to him, and just being with him. As time went on she became more independent, making her own decisions and choosing her own answers. "I don’t know when it stopped. It seems I just woke up one morning and I was no longer my daddy’s little girl. No more piggyback rides. No more trips to Jack-in-the-Box on the way to kindergarten. No more toys, no more lollipops. It was time for me to stop tugging on his trousers, stop sitting on his lap, stop crying to him when I skinned my knee or didn’t get my way." As time passes, children mature which leads to the gaps of distance forming between child and parent.

In both works it is obvious that children feel more attached to their fathers at earlier ages but sometimes the parent feels more attached as time passes. It becomes apparent that in both works as children grow up they become more distant from their parents, and parents occasionally give them less attention. The article "No More Lollipops" shows one aspect, "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." This shows how the father became distant and paid less attention to his daughter as she matured. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter expresses a different aspect from the parent, "…He tried to say something – but he had not called her to say anything special. He only wanted to talk to her for a little while" (85). This shows how father tried to keep the relationship close between himself and his daughter as she matured.

Parents react differently to the maturing of their children. Some parents try to get closer with their children as opposed to the parents who create distance. Both works, McCuller’s and Adams’ demonstrate the two ideas. Adams’ shows how the parent tends to create distance as opposed to McCullers’, which shows how the parent wants to get closer.