In "Mercy," one interpretation could be that the father wants the son to learn a lesson through mending the fence. What lesson do you think he's trying to teach his son? Do you think his son learns the lesson he intended?
Can you describe a time that your parent wanted you to learn something through a task or job? Did you learn what s/he intended?
(This is similar to the quickwrite we did, just connecting it more to the text.)
I think that the father is trying to teach his son about respnsibility, hardwork, and determination. "I was the only one who knew what bad shape it was getting to be in."That quote kind of means if you have the ability to fix something and none else does than you have the responsibility to. "I cursed them horses as they leaned their weight against the fence." That quote shows that the son has determination to fix the fence even though the horses keep braking it.
ReplyDeletemaby the dad wants his son to learn that work is not as easy as it seams. when the dad told his son to go meand the fence.after a while of mending the fence broke
ReplyDeleteI think the father wants the son to learn a lesson about taking care of somthing he already has ( the angus ). This reminds me of my father and how if I want somthing I have to work good and hard. I think of his job as a oppertunity to prove himself to his father.
ReplyDeleteMy parents tryed teaching me that having a job isn't that fun beacause i wanted to make some money. They made me pull weeds for like 3 hours....
ReplyDeleteI think the dad trys to teach the son that its alot of work to maintain things... I think the son does cause he goes out to the fence every day.
I think that the boy spent so much time on the fence because he didnt want the horses to be killed by his dad, becaus his dad said "The first horse that comes through that fence, I kill." The boy didn't want this to happen because it seemed like he liked the horses because he said, "I watched them whenever I had a few moments free from ferrying feed for the steers." That means that he likes the horses and that he would not want them to get killed
ReplyDeleteI think that the dad is trying to teach the kid how to be responsible. My parents told me that going to school and becoming what you want to be so that you will enjoy your job when you are older and actually look forword to going to work every day..after the dad told the boy to go work on the fence after he had already been working on it and it had broke..I cursed them horses as they leaned there weight against the fence.
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ReplyDeleteI think the father is trying to teach the boy to be responsible for things he likes/loves. The boy became attached to the horses since he saw them. He liked Cinnamon the most and wanted to protect her. "You've got to stop it, you don't want to come over here even if the grass looks good. My old man will shoot you if you do" when he says that he's warning the horses not to come over or they will die because he didn't want anything to happen to them so he took care of the fence so that the father would not shoot them. When the dad asked,"You'd like to have one, I bet. Wouldn't you, boy?", I think he was saying that if he likes them he should protect them by keeping the fence up so the father wouldn't shoot them.
ReplyDeleteMy mom wants to teach me to work hard and then you'll get things in return, but if you don't, there is consequences. When I don't take care of the cats I get in trouble. I want a dog and my mom says that I have to prove my resposibility with taking care of the cats before I can have a dog.
I think the lesson the father wanted to teach the son was that if you want something you can't just sit around. You have to work for it, earn it, and take care of it. I think that the father kind of made sure of doing this by telling him that he was going to shoot the first horse that he saw on his land. One time my parents made me and my brother take care of stuffed animals to prove that we were responsible enough to take care of a pet.
ReplyDeleteI think the lesson is that if you care about something you should care for it. I think the kid was caring for the safty of the horses so that was why he was mending the fence. I think he learned the lesson because he did mend the fence. :)
ReplyDeleteI think that the dad was trying to teach him that he has to care for what he has. "You'd like to have one, I bet." That was page 125. He is testing him. The boy thinks that he has to say no but really he is just wondering if he did want one or not. He cared about them because no one else did. Thats what I think the lesson was.<3
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ReplyDeleteI think the dad says the first one on my property I will shot he is trying to teach the boy or scare him to make sure the fence stays together. When it says on page 131 "His feet slipped in the snow" saying he fell and when it describes that he was laughing it says that he didn't hate the horses as much as you might of thought he did
ReplyDeleteI think the dad is trying to teach the boy to be responsible and to take care of more than 1 thing in his life. (the angus and the horses)And when he finds out that his son is responsible, he gets the horses, because the story says:
ReplyDeletep.125, "You'd like to have one, I bet. Wouldn't you, boy?"
and it said:
The hood of his coat fell away from his face, and I saw that my old man was laughing.
I think that the father knew that the boy wanted a horse from the begining. I also think that the dad wanted to teach his son that a miniture horse is going to be alot of hard work to take care of. Hard work always pays off. It's kind of like life, you work to get the things you need & want. WORK-"I wouldn't let them break through it. They were relentless and I had become relentless too, braiding the ends of the bitten wire back together, hammering bent staples back into the rotting posts." JOY-"The hood of his coat fell away from his face, and I saw that my old man was laughing..."
ReplyDelete2.I think the father is just jelious of how well everything is going for everyone but him. and how angus prices are down and worthless "What the h*** is next" "What? Giraffes? Crocodiles?"P.121
ReplyDelete1.I think the father hates the ponies so much is because the hoarses are starting to replace the angus cows. He says "can't eat em cant ride them."P.120
ReplyDeletehe is saying that they should be cows they are worth somthing to him.
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ReplyDeleteI think that the boy spent so much time on the fence because he wanted to teach that haveing a pet was a lot of work and that he didn't want a poine after doing it. "I wouldn't let them break through it. They were relentless and I had become relentless too"
ReplyDeleteThe father is all about work and he says "useless" about all the horses because they don't work or you can't eat them or ride them, so work is important to him. The fence thing is showing the son that the horses are a pain I believe. The dad doesn't like them and he wants his son not to like hime ether. He even says "first one in my yard I kill." If the boy likes them too much so he'll work so they don't wander. The father might also thing that the boy willl eventually find them as a nucents. My parent haven't done anything I remember.
ReplyDelete2.)I think the father hates the ponies becouse he may have had a bad experence with them or he wants the poines for himself and is mad he can't have them. "first one in my yard I kill."
ReplyDeletei think that the dad is trying to teach his son that if something needs to be done, he can't just sit around waiting for it to be finished. he has to try hard so that other people can depend on him. i think he learned the lesson when the fence broke. i dont remember my parents doing anything.
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