Motifs Of Weaknesses And Strengths In Goodwood example essay topic

In the story "Goodwood Comes Back", the author, Robert Penn Warren, reveals, with a touch of motif and foreshadowing, how a childhood upbringing usually affects the kid's decision-making skills as an adult. Luke Goodwood is a person full of talents, one of them being able to pitch, which takes him to the big leagues, where fame and fortune is brought upon him. Luke, who lived all of his childhood in a small Alabama town, was not raised to learn how to handle such a reputation or responsibility, for his dad was a drunkard and his mom a busy housewife, therefore, he turned to drinking, probably the only thing ever taught to him by his father. Robert Penn Warren was born on April 24, 1905 in Guthrie, Kentucky and resided there until he graduated from Guthrie High School in 1921 (Shephard 2410).

Though he lived in Guthrie for all of his childhood years, the most remarkable and life-changing moments which sparked his future interest were those summers in the plains where he spent time with his grandfather, who had been a Confederate officer during the Civil War. His grandfather had a strong interest in both history and literature which he passed on to Robert Penn Warren by sharing poems and reading history events to him (Vasallo 2). Warren once said in a Paris Review Interview", I have a romantic interest in the objects of American History: saddles, shoes, figures of speech, rifles, etc. They " re worth a lot... ". (West 246).

However great his love for history and literature, he went on to college in Vanderbilt University to become a chemical engineer. This plan only lasted until he met up with famous poet Allen Tate and several other poets, which attended the same university. This bunch formed a literary group called "The Fugitives". They would get together to read and discuss each other's poetry (Vasallo 1). Warren described these meetings as "the greatest thrill I'd had in my life". This made him change his future plans from a chemical engineer to a writer and a poet.

"I was seventeen and said this is what I'm going to do" (Vasallo 2). Right there and then his future was decided upon. Warren graduated from Vanderbilt University, but went on to perform graduate work in places such as University of California, Oxford, and Yale University (Shephard 2410). He was both a writer and a teacher working at the University of Minnesota, and then went on to work at a job offered at Yale (West 236). He retired early, though still kept in connection with Yale, in 1956 to concentrate more on his writing (West 236). Two years after retirement, Warren received a Pulitzer Prize for poetry, adding on to his previous Pulitzer Prize won in 1947 for fiction, regarding his story All the King's Men.

He went on in 1979 to win another Pulitzer Prize for poetry, making it three Pulitzer Prizes won in his lifetime (Shephard 2410, 2411). Not only was Warren pounded with awards, such as Emerson-Thoreau Award of American Academy and National Book Award, but three of his stories were made into films (West 346). Warren would use his observation of the physical and emotional world and write it all down, amazing people nationwide with his works. "He sees it, captures it, makes the page tremble with it", as Penn was described by Floyd Watkins. Penn uses the motif of natural talents throughout the story, illustrating how Goodwood is naturally gifted at most everything he does.

"Luke was as good shot as you ever hope to see". Not only in hunting, but Luke Goodwood was also gifted in drawing, writing, looks, and baseball. "Luke Goodwood always could play baseball... ".

You never saw a finer-looking fellow in your life". Motif, however was not just used by Robert Penn Warren to reveal Luke's natural talents, but his cause of his talents being wasted, as well- drinking, that is. It is mentioned a numerous amount of times that drinking brought him down. In the beginning, there is a form of foreshadowing when the author takes his time to fill in with detail about his father's drinking problem. "He had four boys and drink was their ruination". Another foreshadowing mixed with motif lets the reader know that drinking would always be part of Goodwood's life once he started drinking. .".. none of the Goodwood could ever leave the poison alone".

Another situation added to the motifs of weaknesses and strengths in Goodwood, is the motif of the word back. Constantly using this word helps in describing Luke's attempts to make a reappearance in baseball and get his life together, but failing. Goodwood stays clean for a period of time and gets a farm containing his dogs and ring-neck Chinese pheasants, but gets this farm taken away. He then tries to work out in the mornings, him being used to waking up early to go hunting, but is forced to stop by the managers in order for him to be "fresh" for the games. It seems as every time he tried to get his mind off drinking by doing some other activity, it would fail, and he had no choice, based on his childhood, but to drink. Goodwood enters professional baseball, starts drinking, gets kicked out, then goes back to baseball, then back to drinking, and gets kicked out, once again.

Goodwood then gives up on baseball, deciding he " ll never be happy there, and goes back home to Alabama. Robert Penn Warren directs us in the story by hammering the story with different types of motifs, based on Goodwood's weaknesses, strengths, and his comebacks along with failures. This whole story and its motifs reflect Warren's outlook on how it not only takes talent to accomplish a goal, but it takes willpower; willpower which comes from the beliefs of a person who gathers them from people, usually their parents or guardians. In this story, unfortunately, Luke Goodwood had everything but that willpower, thanks to his childhood upbringing.