The Role of Parenting in Henry Roths Call it Sleep Essay Example for Free

The Role of Parenting in Henry Roths Call it Sleep Essay In the novel Call it Sleep, by Henry Roth, one of the hardest tasks is to truly understand the character of David Schearl. Written from the perspective of a young child, the reader has to wade through rambling streams of consciousness filled with significant meaning, as well as, well-developed mature thoughts. However, you cannot truly comprehend a character like David unless you fully understand his familial structure and the effects it has on him. Davids parents are important because they prove to be the source of his rejection and confusion with the world around him. By rejecting his parents and their culture David is only left with confusion, guilt, and loneliness. The Schearl household is filled with secrets, blame and denial that shake the basic foundations that a family depends on. Davids home is lacking openness and intimacy, and that forces David to look towards other places, such as religion, for such needs. Upon examining the effects the familys dysfunctions have on David; one can better understand the true nature of his character and his search for a personal identity independent of his parents. Davids relationship to his mother, Genya, is filled with love. However, as David gets older this love is sometimes replaced by shame. David, who formally took comfort in being near his mother, is trying to free himself from only feeling safe in her arms. At the beginning of the novel, David needed his mother to wait in the stairwell while he came up stairs because he was so terrified. While later in the novel, David is proud of himself for walking up the stairs and not being afraid of anything. However, there were times during this period when David wanted his mother waiting, and he felt shame in needing his mother to feel safe. Davids deep connection to his mother is the result of the father, Albert, rejecting both. Albert is not a good father figure, in the sense that, he doesnt fulfill any of Genya or Davids emotional needs. This absence of a strong husband/ father figure creates the tight and awkward bond between Genya and David. Alberts absence in Genyas life creates a huge emotional gap and for comfort she latches onto David. Another factor playing into the deep connection between David and Genya is the alienation both feel in America, a strange land, where neither feels as though they belong. Genyas inability to assimilate to the American immigrant lifestyle has left her sheltered and alone in an apartment all day. Having no peers or equals to spend here time with, Genya is constantly babying David to ensure that he will not turn elsewhere for his needs. As a child David thrives on this close relationship because he hates the ugly outside world. David seeks shelter in his mothers arms from people like Yussie and his sister, Annie, who wants to play bad. David, however, has more interaction with the outside world and finds his adventures there comforting as he grows older. Davids escape to the roof and the journey he took when he got lost replaced his need to find comfort in his mothers arms. The distance between David and his mother grew when she divulged her great secret to Aunt Bertha. The two women spoke half in Yiddish and half in Polish creating a huge gap not only in David s understanding but also in his connection with his mother. His mothers Polish and Davids increasing English vocabulary prevent them from sharing a common language in which they feel comfortable expressing themselves. David who used to feel at home in his mothers world inside the apartment finds himself growing up and rejecting Genyas inability to grow and change. Genyas world is becoming unfamiliar to David, whose experiences in the modern world are foreign to Genya. Davids rejection of his mothers world and her inability to understand his world force David to look for fulfillment and acceptance outside the home, in school, religion and with street kids like Leo.