Literary essay

POSSIBLY A SPOILER! NOT REALLY SURE IF IT IS THOUGH! 

In the book hurricane song, by Paul Valponi, there are two main characters, Miles and pops. They are in a father and son relationship. They are trying to get this to work out and have a good relationship between each other. They are very distant and don't know really how to support each other, until Hurricane Katrina puts them in a situation where they are forced to get closer, what this book shows is how imperfect family relationships can be, but will still pull through with loving intentions. 

Miles is meeting his dad (pops)  for the first time and already they are too different from each other to get off to a good start in their so called "new found relationship". Miles didn't really care about his father, all he really wanted to focus on was his football skills. His dad wanted him to play the drums since he was a musician himself, possibly having Miles in some of his gigs he did. Miles didn't care for the music and tossed it aside, but still had a feeling inside, his father cared nothing about him as a person. He thought his father didn't care for or even love him, he thought music was more important then his own son, and his early features supported it.

Pops didn't have a clue of how to take care of a high school school student, his own son who he barely has even met! Pops really didn't show care about anything other then music, and especially his favorite horn. He didn't really show interest in hobbies that Miles did, especially in football. He didn't like the sport that much and didn't really support Miles on it. He really wanted him to play the drums though Miles hated the stupid thing. It seemed like the drums was the only way Miles and Pops could possibly get closer, but Miles wasn't willing to this possibility through this way. This all might have never changed if the hurricane hadn't came along.

They had stay in the Superdome where they were supposedly safe, which it wasn't. It was very chaotic there, they might have had about the same situation outside. This is when they still don't really understand each other (Miles and Pops). They start to build up conversations now and talk about each other's history, it's something at least but not really enough to call bonding. They do help each other try and survive the very scary situation that they are in. People got trampled, killed, raped, and a lot more bad things when nobody was expecting. They helped give each other advice to stay safe, and let each other wander too far without knowing specifically. Then one day the guards inside allowed people to leave the stadium, people didn't know what to expect, they thought it would be a a lot better then inside... It was chaos outside.

There was water up above 3 ft surrounding everything, bodies were even floating around in the water... Many stores were looted, broken glass, torn down houses, and everything was just destroyed. Later on, there was a shoot out that happened. Everybody panicked not knowing what to do. Then  Miles gets pushed out the way straight into cover where the bullets couldn't hit him. He looked back wondering what just happened, he turns and sees Pops! It turns out pops had pushed him out the way in the middle of the chaos, putting Miles life out harm before himself. Miles in this situation feels a bit of happiness, knowing his father actually cares about him.

Later in that day, they saw that men were trying to steal a piano that was very special to this area. Pops pointed it out in anger, and Miles feels like he should help put it back in its rightful place. He goes over to one of the people who are trying to take the piano and tackles him to the ground. They start to wrestle in the water, and Miles starts to give in. He is over powered by the man, and forced under water. He struggles and can't get back up from under the chocking water. As Miles is slowly fading away, he feels the grip loose from around his neck! He swims from underneath the man up, grasping for air. When he gets up he sees the body floating away from him, as if he is unconscious. He wonders how this happened, and he sees pops... And a broken horn of his. This is when Miles had changed completely about his father.

His farther had shown he loved his son dearly, and no music could get in the way of that. Pops said never to touch his son again, and if he did he would regret it deeply! This broke the barrier of their uncertained relationship, to one with pure love. They supported each other through out the rest of the year in a loving and caring way. Miles turned out to have picked up the drums, and was really good at it too! His dad had supported him in his hobbies, and Miles ended up getting on his high school varsity football team.

This relationship wasn't very great one at first, but proved to be a great one in the end. It just took a big event to happen, to make them work together, love one another for a long time.