Stories We Love: “Powder,” by Tobias Wolff | Fiction Writers Review
This was one for the books. Like being in a speedboat, only better. You can’t go downhill in a boat. And it was all ours. And it kept coming, the laden trees, the unbroken surface of snow, the sudden white vistas. Here and there I saw hints of the road, ditches, fences, stakes, but not so many that I could have found my way. But then I didn’t have to. My father was driving. My father in his forty-eighth year, rumpled, kind, bankrupt of honor, flushed with certainty. He was a great driver. All persuasion, no coercion. Such subtlety at the wheel, such tactful pedalwork. I actually trusted him. And the best was yet to come—switchbacks and hairpins impossible to describe. Except maybe to say this: if you haven’t driven fresh powder, you haven’t driven.
I completely agree with your last paragraph and also found meaning in the same metaphors. I think that the father’s spontaneous attitude, although reckless at times, is admirable. I often get too caught up in life as a whole and forget to just let go and enjoy NOW. I love how the narrator’s father has such a free spirited attitude and is willing to live life on the dangerous side, both literally and figuratively. I also agree with your metaphor about the storm – life is itself a storm, a very unpredictable one, and it is up to us what we make of it and how we make it through. I thought this story was a very creative and powerful metaphor that really got me thinking about how I want to live my life.
From longing for the safety of home, for the familiar Christmas tablecloth and trembling with fear in the face of so much snow, the son is now eager to see what lies ahead, ecstatic about hairpin turns on a treacherous mountain road. He is no longer judging his father, criticizing his admittedly irresponsible behavior, so much as admiring his father’s skill in navigating, even thriving in, the mess he’s made.
Theme Of Powder By Tobias Wolff 826 words [Essay Example]
The story Powder by Tobias Wolff is a coming of age story because in the end of the story the son gets a new perspective on life. It all start when the son’s father asked him to move the sawhorse for him. The sawhorse was blocking the road because the road was closed off due to the snow storm. The moving of the sawhorse can symbolize a transition point for the son because by moving the sawhorse this went against the usual son’s traits. The son’s traits are responsible, cautious, and always thinks ahead, but by moving the sawhorse he commits a reckless act which went against his original ways.
“Powder” is a story written by Tobias Wolff in 1996 staged in the mid to late 1950’s about a boy and his father skiing at Mount Baker on Christmas Eve and what it takes them to get back home in time for dinner. The father and his wife are on the edge of breaking up, although she is still angry about him taking their son to see Telonious Monk she lets them go. He promises hand over heart to keep him safe during the Mount Baker ski trip and get him home on time. Through the story the father is responsible in what he feels what is best for his son.
I also really enjoyed the style this story was written in. There were a lot of details that really made the story come alive! At first the title of the story, Powder, made me wonder what it was going to be about. As I continued to read the story, it was clear that the title related to the snowfall. A white, dusty, powder substance that descending onto the earth onto a December day. I also liked in the end how instead of using the word snow, the author summed up the story using the word, “powder.”
Let me start off by saying, Powder, by Tobias Wolff was a cute short story about the relationship of a father and son, and how it later will affect the boy in the future. I liked the tone of the story compared to the tone of Didion’s essay, Grief. The relationship and bond between the father and son seemed somewhat heart warming. Some personal ethnography included in the short story could possibly be the way the boy acted and his disposition, which was mostly taken from his mother, rather than his father. He was more anxious and worried throughout the story, where the father was just basically “living in the moment;” he was more of a risk taker. Although the mother was not a main character in the story, it is evident what she is like by the first line of the story. The narrator says that the father had to “fight for the privilege,” of the company of his own son because the mother was seemingly more rigid and strict.
Powder By Tobias Wolff Summary
Down the first long stretch I watched the road behind us, to see if the trooper was on our tail. The barricade vanished. Then there was nothing but snow: snow on the road, snow kicking up from the chains, snow on the trees, snow in the sky; and our trail in the snow.
A Father-Son Relationship; Powder by Tobias Wolff
Though the son hasn’t shed his nervousness, he reports a change in the weather: “the wind had died. The snow was falling straight down, less of it now and lighter.” They drive down the road and, the trooper long gone, the father instructs the son to move the barricade and they forge ahead, his father’s eyes on the road, the son looking backward:
What is the plot of Powder by Tobias Wolff
His father turns the car around. But he hasn’t given up. Known for his charm and improvisation skills, if not his reliability, he pulls into a diner up the road, hatching his plan. In a booth, they acknowledge their predicament.
Powder, by Tobias Wolff (English 1302) Literature:Short Story
Get a tailor-made essay on 'Theme of Powder by Tobias Wolff' The strained yet deeply loving bond between the father and son in "Powder" is evident from the beginning, as the father goes to great lengths to ensure his son has a memorable Christmas despite the impending snowstorm.
Analysis Of Powder By Tobias Wolff
"His narrator’s point of view evolves with the story, revealing this evolution through how he sees his setting": Kent Kosack on Tobias Wolff's subtle gem "Powder."
Free Essays on Review Of “Powder“ By Tobias Wolff
He finally decides to go against the officer’s wishes. At this point, the danger that can possibly be ahead could not stop them from making it home for Christmas Eve dinner. Once the officer moves from his post, the father and son proceed down the snowy roads. Their interaction is another symbolic representation of love. As the ride progressed, the father and son begin to discuss the greater qualities that they contain.…