The negative influence factor which radiates from father, Don, in Lenore Keeshig-Tobias' essay, "He Was a Boxer When I Was Small," is a great example of how a parent's actions can brainwash and alter their children's future decisions in life. Author Keeshig-Tobias grew up in a miserable household raised by her feared, alcoholic father, who held frequent temper tantrums in order to establish his parental authority. Don has many flaws that make him a bad father, including his temper, ignorance, and immaturity. As a result of Don's juvenile actions, his daughter, Keeshig-Tobias, becomes susceptible to retaining his bad characteristics throughout the rest of her life. While an important part of Keeshig-Tobias' childhood was learning to better understand her father's actions, a relentless danger is that she will misinterpret his wrong doings and reason enough rational sense to substitute these actions for the ones she believes are correct.
Don used boxing as a way to leave behind the stresses of his family life.
Headgear and boxing gloves are mandatory in Olympi...
English: boxing
English: Professional boxer and heavyweight world ...He strongly believed that boxing would give him the courage, strength, motivation and commitment he needed to be successful. Although boxing seemed to be a sport to which Don could relate his life to, when it carried over from the ring to become part of the household, it often led his family, especially Keeshig-Tobias, to "[cower] every weekend waiting for him to erupt" (Keeshig 278). As a child, one thing that Keeshig-Tobias remembers well is that her father's "thundering rages [were] most vivid" (277). Separating his deep passion for boxing inside the ring, and his family life outside the ring, proved to be a dire problem for Don. Keeshig-Tobias not only experiences the effects of her father's weekly, ill-mannered tempers, but she also feels fear for her mother believing that "[her father's] prowess in the ring must have...