In Shooting Dad by Sarah Vowell, Sarah says,"My dad and I are the same person. We're both smart-alecky loners with goofy projects and werid equipment." (439) I wanted to focus on this quote because throughout the whole eassy the main focus is about how different they are. I hadn't thought about how alike they were until I had read that quote.
Sarah and her dad both love art, it just so happens to be two different forms of art. Sarah loves sounds, such as music. She has serval instruments, microphones and recorders. At the end of the essay she brings her microphone and recorder with her when she goes with her dad and records the sound that the cannon made. Only someone that is in love with sound would go as far as to record something they don't even like.
Sarah's dad on the other hand you could say loves the physical form of art. Crafting and designing a gun is a form of art. It's not something I had realized at first, but it is a lot like sculpting metal. It's a craft, not anyone can do it. Her dad loves his craft just as much as Sarah loves hers. At the end Sarah is able to realize this and even connect her love of sound to his love of guns. "My dad is a one-man garage band, the kind of rock 'n' roller who slaves away at his art for no reason other then to make his own sound." (439) Now the sound of a gun or a cannon may not be music to my ears, but for people like Sarah's dad, it is. It's music that he works hard to make, even though most people don't see it that way.
Hi Sara,
ReplyDeleteThe quote you open with is her epiphany. It took her decades to realize it though. Is the normal teenage rebellion the issue? It's common to disagree with parents, but is there more to it than that? What happens when we're born into a family that has completely different political beliefs than us? Do these differences cover up the ways in which we are similar? Can we get past those differences?
Thanks for giving me more to think about.
Take care,
Lauren
Hi Sara -
ReplyDeleteI agree Sarah and her father were similar in many ways. Unfortunately Sarah was unable to see that when she was growing up because she was unable to see past her hatred of guns. I like how you pointed out the sound of the cannon blasting off, helped Sarah realize her and her father were not so different after all.
Thank you,
Sarah
Hi Sara,
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you went back and focused on how they are in common because I also never thought about it until the very end when she mentioned it. The whole story was really about how different they were and how they have different views which is one of the reasons they grew distant from each other because they did not think the same. I really don't see how that can make you hate your parents just because you did not see eye to eye. I know that she did not hate her father but she was not close to him either. I was also raised in a family where I could voice my oppinions and yes in most cases we did not see eye to eye but the important part was that I was atleast letting them know how I fealt and my parents were not going to make me do something that I did not agree with like going hunting for example. At the end of the day, I still cared for my parents but I never grew distant from them.