Harness Ernest Buckler\'s Short Story,

¶ … Harness

Ernest Buckler's short story, "The Harness," illustrates the same problem as Philip Larkin's poem, "This be the verse," but from different sides. Both the poem and the story deal with the problems between generations. In "The Harness" a father-son relationship is examined from the father's viewpoint; Larkin's poem deals with any parent-child relationship from the child's point-of-view. Although they vary slightly both works deal with the necessary relationship between generations. The parents must act as parents and impact the lives of the children in positive and negative ways.

Larkin's poem would have the reader believe that the parent-child relationship is entirely negative with his use of aggressive language in the very first line. "They ***** you up, your mum and dad" (Larkin).Yet, he also recognizes that the speaker's experience is just part of an overall experience that everyone must endure to a certain extent. It is all part of a grand, but terrible cycle. "Man hands on misery to man.

It deepens like a coastal shelf" (Larkin). This piece is told from the perspective of the child who has experienced the misery of being a child.

Buckler's piece is more interesting in that it is told from the perspective of the struggling parent who tries to deal with his erratic child, David. This is shown from the beginning of the story when the reader hears the worries and questions of the father about his son. "I'd get the awful feeling then that we were both lost. That whatever I'd done wrong had not only failed, but that he'd never know I'd been trying to do it right for him" (Buckler). The father has worked hard to establish a relationship with his son by being the son's friend. The father even allows and encourages the boy to call him by his first name, Art.

Art sees David as a little adult and, at times, David acts the role by being very sensible and forgiving. "He could reason, as well as I. His body would seem to vibrate with obedience. His friendship would be absolutely unwithholding" (Buckler). Art struggles to understand his son until the day of mending the fences makes it very obvious that this is a father to son relationship and not a man to man relationship. At first the day goes well. Art and David enjoy working together. It is, however, the father's inability to see his own son as a child that begins the course of events. Art leaves David to wait for him near the skeleton of a dead horse. Like most seven-year-olds, this frightens David and his father is gone for what probably seemed like a long time to a child.

Consequently, David goes home on his own which angers his father. Instead of punishing David, Art treats him coldly. In reality, David wanted attention even if that was in the form of a beating or scolding. This need drives David to force his father into acting like a father. David jumps off a roof which upsets his father, but that's not enough. David wants to know that his father cares enough to be angry so he dumps a pound of staples. This finally does the trick and forces Art to stop this charade of friends and become a father. David is strangely grateful for the beating that he finally gets. "He didn't try to escape. For the first few seconds he didn't make a sound... Then he began to cry" (Buckler). David wanted to cry and have a normal parent-child relation with his father. The friendship relationship did not serve the child's needs. Art acted like a Dad, then David got to act like a child.