Critical Writing ( Sarah Vowell) Shooting Dad Essay Samples

Vowell’s essay, “Shooting Dad”, is a thorough exploration narrative of a lifelong antagonism between Vowell, her twin sister Amy and her father, and how she discovers with a jolt how much in common she has with her father. In paragraphs, one to four, Vowell is seemingly opposed to her father’s work, interests, and even politics. Their house is politically divided as one is a Democrat while the other is a Republican. Their home is like a military base with firearms everywhere as her father is a gunsmith by profession. It is a new experience forVowell who is hardly a teenager moves in together with her family in this new home in Bozeman, Montana, having had spent their lives in a bit old fashioned Oklahoma in Muskogee County. The new neighborhood of Montana subscribes to a completely new, different social setting.
In paragraphs five to seven,Vowell turns fourteen years of age, and starts engaging in active politics with her father. Vowell is a staunch supporter of equality t, and she is overjoyed when Walter Modale chooses Geraldine Ferraro to be his running mate during the 1984’s Democratic National Convention. Daughter and father’s lifestyle is also riddled with antagonism. While all her love is for art, Vowell cannot reconcile with the fact that her father is a gunsmith. They have really portioned their house amongst themselves so that one cannot interfere with the other’s personal life. The only thing that is common in their respective territories is mess.
The insecurity factor gets hold of Vowell in paragraph eight. She now starts to care for security. Nevertheless, in paragraphs nine to twelve, Vowell acknowledges the fact that, after all, her father’s blood is running through her veins.Vowell, like Amy, becomes aggressive, though not with the same intensity and enthusiasm as Amy. This leads to the two twins leading very different lifestyles with equal blessings and goodwill from the parents. The daughter and father equally justify their respective approaches to deal with issues, in paragraph thirteen, with the father highly favoring iron-fist leadership while Vowell believing diplomacy is the way to go.
Carrying forward to the present day, in paragraphs fourteen to thirty-one, after intermission, Vowell changes her perspective of thorough diplomacy. She now seems to recognize that it’s inbuilt for her, and not to disregard the whole art of war for her inner satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment in the ways of her family. Vowell now seems radicalized or turned and appears to admit that it is unavoidable to have a perfect world, but men should tread with caution and discretion. Safe and more efficient guns should be there when war is must, and diplomacy has entirely failed.
In paragraphs thirty-two to thirty-four, Vowell agrees with her father that we are all mortals, and war is unavoidable, as desperate times call for desperate measures, which is the hurting truth human being,does not want to hear.This wraps up the dominant impression of self-realization and being unobstructed in doing what you aspire, with utmost consideration of all the factors at hand, after critically analyzing the aforementioned paragraphs to unravel this incredible journey of Vowell through the paragraphs.