Father-child RelationshipsThe power struggle between a father and his child can sometimes be overwhelming,however, the battle for dominance can bring a stronger relationship as a result. Based on theirown childhood experiences, Brad Manning and Sarah Vowell successfully develop this conceptin both of their writings. “Arm Wrestling with My Father,” an article composed by BradManning, tells a story about a father and his son’s battle over physical dominance. LikeManning, Sarah Vowell, the author of “Shooting Dad,” writes about a father and daughter’sbattle over mental control. Both essays begin with an obstacle in the father-child relationship andend with the resolution of these issues. “Arm Wrestling with My Father” and “Shooting Dad,”are similarly written, yet the essays differ in situational problems. For these reasons, the twopieces are often compared to one another.Brad Manning and Sarah Vowell, the authors of these comparative articles, write abouttheir relationships with their fathers. Both writers have similar past experiences and relationshipswith their dads, which is one of the main reasons these pieces are often read together. Beginningwith problems prevalent in early childhood, the authors explain disputes with their fathers andillustrate how these problems caused separation. Manning tells his story about struggling to beathis father at arm wrestling and the lack of sentimental interactions between each other.Struggling to have a loving father-child relationship, Manning tries to become closer with hisfather through physical activity. Like “Arm Wrestling with My Father,” Vowell writes aboutchildhood disputes with her father. When Vowell writes about her disagreements, caused bydiffering political opinions, the author mentions the distance she feels between herself and herfather. When writing about their fathers, both authors discuss their situations and how they wouldlike to develop a caring relationship later in life. “I wanted to hold him for a long time and tospeak with him silently, telling him how happy I was, telling him all my feelings, in thatlanguage we shared” (Manning 142). Vowell shares a similar message by writing, “The older Iget, the more I’m interested in becoming a better daughter” (149). These lines reveal that bothwriters want to put aside their differences with their fathers and develop a close bond with oneanother.Even though Vowell and Manning write about a similar topic, their reasoning for arguingwith their fathers differs. In “Arm Wrestling with My Father,” Manning discusses the separationbetween himself and his father caused by physical activities. The author begins his article withan arm wrestling match between his father and himself. These matches all have one thing in
