Appreciation

In Those Winter Sundays, author Robert Hayden is invoking his audience to appreciate their parents and that they do. Many times, the small things one's parents do for us go unnoticed. For example, laundary, cooking, cleaning, the paying of bills, and more are all things that most don't think twice about or parents taking care of. However, if one day they were to stop doing so all together, one would notice immediately. Therefore, through his poem, Hayden urges the reader to offer his appreciation to his parents for the small things. For instance, the line "No one ever thanked him" (781) is a lucid example that draws the underappreciation of parents to the readers attention. Moreover, the lines "Speaking indifferently to him, who had driven out the cold and polished my good shoes as well" (782) clearly juxtaposes the phrase "speaking indifferently" with the kind gestures the father performed for his son.  This evokes pathos in the reader. One can clearly see that the narrarator's "indifferent" behavior toward his father is in no way justified in sight of what his father has done for him. This brings the reader to the realization that one should take notice of the care of his parents and be grateful.