“Dad” Annotation

Author: Andrew H. Malcolm

When: 1984

Brief Overview: Within only four pages or so, Andrew H. Malcolm describes his relationship with his father at various points in his life, allowing the reader to gather details about how he viewed his father in each stage from the perspectives the author adopts.

Important Vocabulary: Yawning, meaning wide open. Heady, meaning to possess a strong or exhilarating effect. Incumbent, meaning the holder of an office or post. Ostentatious, meaning to be characterized by vulgar or pretentious display; designed to impress or attract notice.

Questions: In order to create an effective and cohesive narrative, how did the author choose what details were necessary to include and which were unnecessary?

Notable Quotes: “The first memory I have of him – of anything, really – is his strength.” “Then, a school fact contradicted something he said. Impossible that he could be wrong, but there it was in the book.” “He had a bedside oxygen tank, and he would ostentatiously retire there during my visits, asking my help in easing his body onto the mattress. ‘You have very strong arms,’ he once noted.”

Initial Reactions: Malcolm so effectively draws his audience into what emotions he was experiencing that it becomes easy to see yourself in his shoes, as a toddler, then a child, a teenager, and an adult. The most relatable experience to the general audience was arguably his recognition of his father as human. Regardless of the age that this occurs, children will eventually come to see their parents as they are: flawed beings.