Honor thy mother and thy father?
Larkin’s poem is an example of great literature. It deals with a universal theme of parenting from the viewpoint of the child who, regardless of the effort of the parent, feels they fail them. The title, with its Biblical tone is mocking same for as soon as you begin the poem you realize that one of the ten commandments: ‘Honor thy mother and thy father’ is at stake. Why honor a failure? A parent’s attempts to guide their children soas they develop into productive, caring, compassionate members of society are useless because they are so weighted down by the inadequacies of their own parents. Or, as Larkin put it “They fill you with the faults they had/And add some extra, just for you.” And sadly, Larkin suggests that the effect will continue to trickle down to the next generation unless you “… don't have any kids yourself” (Larkin, P., This Be the Verse).
I think This Be the Verse generalizes the feeling of failure when it comes to raising children whereas Simple Recipes goes beyond the general and provides specifics. It also illustrates by example that parental failure is gender, culture, and country neutral. The author, Madeleine Thien, gives several examples of how her immigrant parents failed her and her brother but she also gives examples of how she and her brother failed her parents. This story also shows how difficult it is to raise children when you live outside your culture. Maybe failure, in this case, is inevitable. But I think when the mother made French toast it shows that she recognizes the challenge of living outside her culture and she is trying to grow as a parent. A significant difference between the two pieces of writing was that in This Be the Verse failure was inevitable but in Simple Recipe I felt that there was a kind of recognition of the efforts made by the parents on behalf of the children and failure was not necessarily the only outcome when raising children.