The short story “Letters from My Father,” written by Robert Olen Butler, and the poem “The Writer,” written by Richard Wilbur, both describe family struggles. “Letters from My Father” is about a Vietnamese girl who grew up without a father due to immigration issues and when she finally reunites with her father, she wonders if he really loves her. In "The Writer", the narrator worries about his daughter's depression, but she does not want to talk to him about it due to a weak bond between the two. In “The Writer” and “Letters from My Father,” both narrators have a bad relationship with an important member of their family; however, both are trying to understand what happened and want to heal the gaps in their relationships. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In both stories, the narrators are faced with an internal problem: They have let too much come between them and a close family member, and they are now wondering whether they should intervene to improve their relationships. In “The Writer,” the narrator must decide whether to enter his daughter’s room when she stops typing because he never knows the outcome of these pauses. When her daughter types, she expresses her feelings and thoughts; however, when she stops typing, the result could be detrimental. The narrator metaphorically uses a bird to represent his daughter and says, “And withdrew to frighten her; And how for an hour, helpless, through the half-open door, we watched..." (Wilbur 1). He let his daughter and himself grow apart, to the point where he wondered whether or not his daughter would come to him for help. At that moment, he wonders if she really loves him enough to trust him. Narrator Fran in "Letters from My Father" received letters from her father telling her how much he loves her, but once they are reunited, Fran is not sure if he really loves her. One day, while her father was working, she said, "So I sat all morning today in the cabin behind our house, here with the tree cockroaches and the carpenter ants and the smell of mold and rotten wood and I sweat so much. hard that it's dripping down my nose and down my chin. There are so many letters on my lap” (Butler 5). Due to their separation in two very distant countries and the lack of contact expressing genuine emotion, the relationship between father and daughter has until recently become almost non-existent. At this point, Fran wonders if her father really loves her; in the same way that the narrator of “The Writer” wondered if his daughter really loved him. The two stories are similar because the narrators both have to face the question of whether or not they are truly loved by a dear family member. The main difference between “Letters from My Father” and “The Writer” is that Fran realizes that her father will. will always be there for her, while the narrator of “The Writer” will always be afraid of what will happen to his daughter. In “The Writer,” the narrator can only know what is going to happen in the instantaneous moment because of his weak bond with his daughter. The narrator talks about a bird, similar to his daughter, who falls and manages to get up with only a little help. Even though the bird is now free, it does not know if it will fall again and no longer be able to fly. Sometimes his daughter pauses and types again, but he has no way of knowing for sure that she will still continue typing. Unlike the central character in “The Writer,” in “Letters from My Father,” Fran is convinced that her father loves her. After.