English 111: Analyzing Father-Son Relationship in 'Arm Wrestling'

This essay analyzes the father-son relationship depicted in Brad Manning's 'Arm Wrestling with My Father'. The author examines the power dynamics between a father and son, focusing on the father's dominance and the son's emotional response. The essay highlights themes of patriarchal norms, emotional estrangement, and the evolving nature of power within a family. Through the use of imagery and symbols, particularly the act of arm wrestling, the essay explores the son's feelings of subjugation and the father's need to assert control. The analysis also considers the son's eventual response to his father's waning physical strength, and the implications of maintaining the illusion of the father's dominance. The author uses a first-person narrative to depict the son's perspective, emphasizing the impact of the father's actions on the son's emotional well-being and sense of self. The essay concludes by suggesting how the son's actions are a means of maintaining the father's perceived strength.

Yujing Liu
Professor Melissa Poole
English 111
18 January 2018
Relation between Father and Son
The essay "Arm Wrestling with my Father" by Brad Manning explores a complicated
relationship between father and son based on power hierarchy. I believe that the essay can
strike a chord with readers of any age, as far as the target readers are concerned. I base my
belief on the composition of the essay that explores power dynamics between a vulnerable
son and an over powering father. This essay can interest readers of varying age and
inclinations because, written in first person narrative, it talks about patriarchal dominance and
expectations.
The readers can come across a plethora of themes like how within the internal
periphery, the child is assaulted by patriarchal norms and practices, "He would see my
downcast eyes, my reddened, sweating face..."(Manning 121). Therefore, the readers can
quickly identify what the writer is trying to mean through the narration of his personal
experiences using the form of an essay. Brad Manning has ventured into the theme of parental
dominance making use of imagery, symbols and the archetype of arm wrestling to denote the
inner weaknesses of an alienated child “I never thought it was funny at all...” Another
meaningful interpretation or message that can one can derive from the essay is the sadistic
satisfaction that the father used to attain by flaunting his authority and male dominance. This

could be his way to manipulate power and establish his stance and superiority in a family.
However, the family needed paternal love and adoration more than a dominating figure. As a
reader, I can easily relate to the situation because I also faced similar struggles as a child
battling to prove his worth to his father.
The message that the author wants to convey may be an evolving power-dynamics
equation that is evident in every family structure. Previously, only fathers had the hegemony
of power. He channelized this power through verbal exchanges and the frequent sessions of
arm wrestling that he used to carry on "strong hug, battling to make the other gasp for breath"
(Manning 121). However, this control of power changes with time when the father reaches an
age where his once strong arms were “not so strong as it had in past years”. The son could not
juxtapose the new image of his father, which clashes with the previous model, answering why
the son pretends defeat. He likens his father’s situation to that of a fish he had one caught and
felt overjoyed. However, he had let go of, to keep the legend alive and so he feigns defeat in
front of his father, to keep his dominance intact. Therefore, he reasons his defeat by stating
how his father was once the protecting agent of the family, sustaining the family with the
strength of his arms, shielding it from external threats.
The author has written this essay from an alienated child’s perspective; I feel who has
been subjugated by a powerful father in his childhood. The writer narrates his personal
experiences from the perspective of a neglected child emotionally estranged from his father.

Works Cited
Brad Manning. "Arm Wrestling with My Father" The Bedford Reader. Ed. X. J. Kennedy,
Dorothy M. Kennedy, and Jane E. Aaron. 13th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2017. 122-
125. print.