Feliks Skryznecki
Conflict between Skryznecki’s love and respect for his father and his growing separation from his father’s Polish culture
Strong sense of familial belonging
Migrant children assimilate and seek a new place where they belong
Title signalling the importance of this gentle, stoic man in his life and emphasising his father’s Polish background
The personal possessive pronoun “My gentle father” creates a structure that resembles a personal conversation with us, the reader, inviting us into his world to share his reflections about his father and his childhood
The father transformed his house in this foreign land into a place where he belonged through his beloved gardens and golden cypresses
Absence of any reference to the outside world suggests that Feliks has created a safe and insular world where he can retreat to his beloved Poland through food, relics and his friends. He still belongs emotionally and spiritually to his birthplace.
The last stanza and the metaphor in the last two lines indicate that his father whom he loved and respected was aware that as his son grew older he was distancing himself from his migrant heritage. The simile, “like a dumb prophet” symbolises his father’s impotence to connect him to his heritage, and his wisdom that Skryznecki, despite his denial, would always belong.
Strong sense of familial belonging
Migrant children assimilate and seek a new place where they belong
Title signalling the importance of this gentle, stoic man in his life and emphasising his father’s Polish background
The personal possessive pronoun “My gentle father” creates a structure that resembles a personal conversation with us, the reader, inviting us into his world to share his reflections about his father and his childhood
The father transformed his house in this foreign land into a place where he belonged through his beloved gardens and golden cypresses
Absence of any reference to the outside world suggests that Feliks has created a safe and insular world where he can retreat to his beloved Poland through food, relics and his friends. He still belongs emotionally and spiritually to his birthplace.
The last stanza and the metaphor in the last two lines indicate that his father whom he loved and respected was aware that as his son grew older he was distancing himself from his migrant heritage. The simile, “like a dumb prophet” symbolises his father’s impotence to connect him to his heritage, and his wisdom that Skryznecki, despite his denial, would always belong.