Growing up is something that everyone must experience. Some experience growing up at an early age, while others grow up much later in life. Growing up not only entails the process of growing up physically, but also growing up mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. Although growing up is one of the most difficult endeavors one must face, it is an experience that will linger in one's life for all eternity. In the worksThose Winter Sundays? andBarn Burning?, the main character in each is going through thegrowing up? stage of their life. The main characters in each work express different feelings about growing up and the environment in which it occurs. In one, a grown man remembers how his father showed him love without ever saying it. In another, a young man questions if his father has any love for him at all. .
The characters inThose Winter Sundays? are quite unique in the way in which they portray themselves and their feelings of love. The father seems to be a quiet man who is dedicated to his work and family. Even on Sundays, a day that he could rest, the father rises and begins a fire to warm the house for the rest of the family. The son, who seems to be appreciative of his father's considerate gesture, but never displays his appreciation, is a quiet boy who questions how much his father really loves him. There is an unknown feeling of love between the two characters, but neither knows to what extent one cares for the other.
?Those Winter Sundays? is told from the point of view of the narrator many years later after he has grown up and matured. He realizes that his father did love him very much even though he may have not said it. He knew that his father loved him by what he did. It was probably hard for his father to tell his son, another male, that he loved him. Instead, he showed him love through his actions. The son, after becoming an adult, regrets the fact that he did not show his father the love that he should have as a child.
