A Conversation With My Father

Perhaps the conversation between the daughter and father in Grace Paley's "A Conversation With My Father" reveals Paley’s beliefs on how real life should be represented in fictional writing. The major conflict between the two resides in their different experiences of life and, therefore, different expectations for fiction. As they speak, the narrator relays the fact that her father was once a physician and then an artist and so, he has a keen interest in detail.

I did not find it surprising that the father was not pleased with the story the daughter originally drew up because we as readers had already discovered that her father was displeased with her writing style. However, it came as a complete surprise and quite ironic that when the daughter does come up with a better, more detailed, and tragic story, her father is saddened with the story and wonders how his daughter could write such a sad ending! How dare he! His daughter bends to his wishes and now it’s not what he wants anymore.

It seems to me that the ailing father will never be completely satisfied with his daughter’s fictional stories. Is his sickness the cause of such doubt in his daughter? Perhaps it is because he is sick that he feels like he knows tragedy like the back of his own hand. Yes, his sickness is reality, and yes, it is very sad, but that does not mean that his daughter does not know tragedy. Maybe she has yet to experience real tragedy, but when is that ever a bad thing? I think it will be hard enough on her when her own, doubtful father, dies and she loses one she loves. Just because someone is not in touch with tragedy as others out there, does not mean they don’t know what tragedy is. Every person who is alive and breathing and walking sees the good and bad events in everyday life.