Mathabance

Differences between children and their parents have been going on since the beginning of time. In "My Father's Tribal Rule", Mark Mathabane and his father are , in short, at each others throats. Throughout the duration of the story, you feel as though you can feel the tension rising between the two. To understand the conflict that is presented in the title, you have to know that Mathabanes father grew up in a tribe doing the rituals that were past down to him while he was living their just like his dad before him and so on.

Knowing full well as to what his father might do, Mark decides to speak out at dinner, his father has preached to him many times that it is disrespectful to do so. His father sternfully says to him " That's never done in my house!" as he rises from his seat to ensure his authority is respected. He immediately knows that he's made a grave mistake, sensing he is about to get whipped, he leaves his food hot on the table, into the protection of his mothers arms where he hopes to escape the wrath of his seeming to be "ten foot" father.

This is discriptive, maybe in not such harsh cases, of the many conflicts that plauge households throughout the world. The conflicts between parents and their children are nothing new, Mark Mathabanes story of his ongoing fude with his father is not uncommon. At least in my case, I found it hard to get along with my parents because what I thought was right for me wasn't exactly what they had in mind. In the end, I've come to understand that with getting older and finding a better understanding of being an adult, I know now that all those times they told me to, "do your homework", and "no you can't do that tonight, you need to focus on your schoolwork", that it wasn't them wanting to be jerks, it's all about them wanting me to have a better life than them, for me to live up to my full potential and