Warren Pryor

Warren Pryor
The poem Warren Pryor by Alden Nowlan is a very ironic poem. It is about a boy who has worked on a farm his whole life because he is poor and could not do anything else. His parents feel he deserves a better life so they work like slaves just in order for they child to be able to go to school. He graduates and his parents are over the moon and excited to see his life move forward. This is where the irony comes in. The boy becomes a bank teller doing what his parents dreamed for him yet, he is not happy. His parents did all this for him to be happy but really he misses the farm and to be happy he wants to be there. A symbol in this poem would be the passport. The line is, "his passport from the years of brutal toil," meaning the passport is a symbol of his future. It is a symbol of his future because it is saying his diploma is his passport to getting away from his life now going into a new successful life. Some parents live their dreams through their kids but maybe they should see what the child wants first. I don't think that the boy is treated fairly because his parents never really asked him what he wants and just gave him his life the way they wanted it. I believe that everyone should be able to make there own choices without anyone trying to change that.