"Shooting Dad" is an interesting title. When you first look at it most people would assume literally and think someone shot their bad, but as you go in to read this short little story, you realize more about what the title really means. Personally, I think the title is a referenece to the dad's love of guns and the relationship between the daugher and her father. One was democrat, the other was republican. It seemed as if the dad was only ever interested in guns and she was interested in art. They were very different and because of their differences, they could rarely hold a converation without it ending as an arguement.
I think that the the title itself is significant because once you read the whole story without just looking at the title, you realize "shooting" maybe meant fighting or argueing or it could of meant "shooting dad" just in the same sence but the other way around and his attitude towards his daughter. It seems as if they were always nagging at each other for certian things. So thats why I think the title holds a reasonanable amount of significance to this story. I really enjoyed this story, how as she began to mature, she realized they had more in common then she or they both thought. Just that him and his guns was another form of art because art can be so many different things in this case art was also what brought the two closer together.
Hailey,
ReplyDeleteI like you interpretation on the title of this story. You're spot on when it comes to the significance with this title. All the father wants is for the daughter to feel the same way about guns as he does. Even though in the beginning she hated the fact of shooting a gun, towards the end she began to fall in love with the fact of shooting off the cannon. Which in turn made for a stronger relationship between the two.
I agree with your interpretation of the meaning for the title too. However think that Sarah and her father coming to enjoy the cannon at the end of the story and how the father asks the family to shoot his ashes out of the cannon on opening day was another reason for the title. I wonder if Sarah actually did it or is going to do it. Sarah said in the story that she would because she said “But I will not cover my ears. Because when I blow what used to be my dad into the earth, I want it to hurt.”
ReplyDeleteHailey,
ReplyDeleteI think i thought about what you said. When I read the title I was thinking that the daughter had to make a decision in shooting her dad! Thats pretty horrible, I know. But your right that if one reading it doesn't pay attention to the title and reads it first they'll understand the main point of the title.
Xochilt