Comparing Brad Manning’s Arm Wrestling With My Father and Itabari Njeri

Comparing Brad Manning’s short story â€Å"Arm Wrestling With My Father,† and Itabari Njeri’s â€Å"When Morpheus Held Him†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The relationship between a father and son stems from an unspoken competition in many countries. Whether it is a physical or mental rivalry the superior role slowly transcends on to the son as he grows into a man. In Brad Manning’s short story â€Å"Arm Wrestling With My Father,† and Itabari Njeri’s â€Å"When Morpheus Held Him,† both contain admiring sons and impassive fathers. Despite both stories similarities in unspoken emotions they differ in the aspect of their physical relationships. This unrequited bond between a father and son in these stories portray various types of love.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout Brad Manning’s anecdote about arm wrestling he refers to his father as â€Å"the arm† or â€Å"the master with clenched fists.† The embodiment of his father in these empowered limbs shows the dominating figure once held over him. â€Å"Daddy,† was the only personal name Itabari Njeri’s father allowed him to say. If Njeri did not settle for â€Å"Daddy,† â€Å"Dr. Moreland† would have to due. There is a sterile and clinical connotation in referring one’s father as Doctor. Manning’s states,† the man would win,† also giving an impersonal and cold feeling to his â€Å"strong father.† But this impersonal name was not forced upon Manning as Njeri’s father had done. Manning’s â€Å"father-son† matches battling â€Å"arm against arm† was their only means of communication. Manning decodes his father’s crude â€Å"ritual,...