A Trip to Grand Rapids

Essay - A Trip to Grand Rapids

The development from being a child to becoming an adult can be overwhelming - and not only for the kids. The parents tend to forget, how they were themselves, when they were young. But at some point they have to realize their children are growing up and then start to let them go. In "A Trip to Grand Rapids" the main character, Roger, realizes this and gets tired of being a dad.

Roger Hedlund is a farmer and thinks of himself as a strict man. At the incident with the kitten, which gets put outside because of his cat rule, he becomes anxious for it. When the kitten shows up next day, Roger decides to change his cat rule - this is the first place where it is indicated that his image as a strict father is starting to fade a little bit and it shows that he perhaps also can be soft.

When Roger goes away with his wife Cindy to Grand Rapids, he suddenly turns around, because he gets suspicious. His daughters, Martha and Cathy, behaved surprisingly nice when Roger and Cindy took off, almost like they were on to something. Cindy calls him crazy and he answers: "Yes - as a father of two teenage daughters, I'd be crazy not to be crazy." (Ll. 47-48)All of a sudden he seems to be the strict, suspicious father who does not trust his own children once again.

But the children have abused his trust and are apparently having a party. Suddenly Roger and Cindy see their own daughter, Martha, smoking a cigarette. In the text it says: "He wanted to run to her and yet he really didn't" (L. 83) When he sees his little daughter smoking it shocks him at first, and he wants to stop her. But at some point he realizes he cannot - and perhaps should not - do anything at all. She is no longer a little innocent girl - she is actually becoming a grown up. That is why he just wants to leave without shouting at Martha and interrupt the party.

At some point Roger has lost his wallet and Cindy does not have any money either and therefore he has to go back to the house. Martha asks her friends to lend some money to her parents and they are more than willing to do so. It is a bit ironic that the parents suddenly are depending on their children's help - it is no longer just the other way around. When Martha and Cathy are helping Roger and Cindy, they become more equal with their parents and are no longer helpless, little children.

When Roger and Cindy first arrived at the party, Roger started to remember the parties he used to go to when he was at his daughters' age. At some point Cindy reminds him about a particular party, but he does not know which party she is talking about. But apparently it was the party where Cindy and Roger met for the first time - he had just forgotten all about it. Just like they both had forgotten what it was like being young and going to parties.

In the end Roger lies awake