¶ … Oedipus the King" by Sophocles, "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, and "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke. Specifically, it will interpret and illustrate how the theme of parents may be seen in these three pieces. Each of these pieces concern the family, but not the normal family unit most people expect. Each of the parents in these three pieces obviously contributes to the lives of their children, but not necessarily in the positive ways most parents are expected to contribute to the growth and abilities of their progeny. Their children grow in spite of their parents, rather than because of them.

The child in "My Papa's Waltz" has fond memories of his father, as this passage shows. "We romped until the pans / Slid from the kitchen shelf;" (Roethke 880). However, as with many childhood memories, these views are distorted. Clearly, the father in the piece is a drunkard, and the mother is eternally displeased, as "My mother's countenance / Could not unfrown itself" (Roethke 880). This short poem sets up a theme common to all three of these pieces, parental influence. However, in these pieces, the influence is not for the good. This little boy loved his father, but the father seemed to live in a world of his own, that sometimes included his family, but more often included hard work and hard drinking. The father here is not a good influence on his son, as the mother's "countenance" clearly shows, and this is a theme common to these works. The parents influence the children, but not in the ways most parents want to influence their children.

This theme continues in "Oedipus the King," which may be the most well-known example of parents who negatively influenced their...

Oedipus' parents sent him off to be killed when he was a baby because of negative prophecies about him. At the very heart of this tragedy is the undercurrent of sexual desire between mother and son, as his mother, Jacosta notes. "In their very dreams, too, man men / have slept with their own mothers. / A man who shrugs off such things / as meaningless will bear his life best" (Sophocles 50). Sophocles brings a very forbidden aspect of parenting out in the open, and it of course affects Oedipus when he discovers he has indeed fulfilled the prophecy he was so trying to avoid. Oedipus is a tragic hero because he causes the ruin of his own family by killing his father and marrying his mother. In an almost fiendish twist, Oedipus has also severely influenced his children by fathering them with his mother, and then leaving them to fend for themselves after he blinds himself. He cries, "I can still weep for you, though I can't see you. / I imagine how bitter lives will be. / I know how men will force you to live" (Sophocles 65). Oedipus has perpetuated the tragedy his parents began, as this author notes, "The stigma of Oedipus can be expected to pursue all of his children, boys as well as girls. The sons and daughters are all orphaned and cursed by the tragedy of their parents" (Nassaar 188). His parents were so afraid of the prophecy surrounding him that they sealed their own fate when they sent him away. If they had confronted their fears, they might have saved themselves while saving their son at the same time. Sadly, they instead negatively impacted everything by their rash and fearful actions.
In "The Lottery," the family unit seems secure and serene until the last few lines of…