'Central Conflict In Robert Hayden's Those Winter Sundays'
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• The central conflict in Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays” is that the speaker is thinking back and remembering small details his dad did for him as a young boy. The speaker regrets how he might have taken his dad for granted. He never really appreciated the small things his dad did for him. At the beginning, the speaker begins with “Sundays too…”(Hayden 17), This indicates that not just on Sundays his father got up in the “…blueblack cold” (Hayden 17) with cracked hands, that indicate his fathers job had to do with manual labor. Hayden says, “Then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made / banked fires blaze” (Hayden, Pg.17) although the fathers hands ached, he still woke up every Sunday to make sure that…show more content… He reflects back to when he was a small boy and thinks back and the small things that his dad did for him. He now realizes his father’s actions that his actions were signs of affection. Hayden says, “And, polished my good shoes as well” (Hayden 17), the speaker doesn’t really show any gratuity to the fact that his father polished his shoes for him. The speaker sees his fathers action, of polishing his shoes that it is a sign of affection. The reader can infer that the speaker’s father cares about his son’s appearance. When the speaker was a child, he didn’t take into consideration all the small things his dad did for him. The speaker says “my father got up early / and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, / then with cracked hands that ached” (Hayden 17). The speaker remembers how his father would wake up in the morning before the sunrise. The speaker mentions how no one thanked his father for waking up and “made / banked fires blaze” (Hayden 17) the speaker feels sorrow and regret, as if he didn’t show his father enough appreciation for the little things he did. The speaker feels as if he should have been more