900 words

In the book Fathers, Sons, and Brothers, author Bret Lott presents stories of his childhood alongside stories of his children to show how alike they actually are. The essays are set up so that it is in the order of his children growing up. Alongside these stories, Lott adds essays of his childhood around the same age which make the two more easily comparable. A lot of the time he is also comparing the two of them during the same chapter. Whether or not he even realizes it, he is pointing out the similarities between generations. In his writing, Lott shows that his children have a similar childhood as he did by constantly comparing and contrasting the two between paragraphs, chapters, and even sentences. By doing this, he eventually does come to the realization that they are very alike, but in some key areas, maybe due to his own parenting, they are different.

In some cases he is even pushing for his sons to be the way he and his brothers were. The first example of this coming early in the book from the first chapter; while talking about the garage, Lott writes, “Brad, Tim, and I had no choice but to take turns running as fast as we could along the asphalt driveway, then jumping flat footed onto that cement, blasting from pure California Saturday morning sunlight into the black garage to slide barefooted as far as we could arms out like surfers’ for balance” (p. 4). Then later in the chapter, “I can hose the place down and teach my boys the finer points of garage sliding” (p. 10). Lott slips in the last sentence subtly to express how he hopes his sons will have the same sort of escape from the family to bond as brothers. He first explains how after losing the garage he lost touch with his brothers, then adds that sentence to show how he wants his sons to be different in that aspect. He, as the father, stepped in to make sure that his sons would have the opportunity to have a place to bond just like he did when he was younger.

Probably the best example of the similarities between generations comes during the "Allegiance" chapter. During this chapter Lott tells a story of allegiance between him and his brother and compares it to a conversation he hears between his two children at the end of the chapter. In the second paragraph of the first chapter, Lott writes, "'Swear to God,' was what he said to me often during our childhood and adolescence. 'Swear to God you won't tell Mom,' he'd say, then wait for my answer: 'I swear'" (p. 151). This is a conversation, of course, between Lott and his brother. Lott later writes, "'Jake don't tell Dad,' Zeb whispered, and it seemed Swear to God you won't tell ought to be the next words I would hear" (p. 163). After reading stories of the first conversation occurring many times during the chapter it's almost eerie when Lott hears his sons talking in private at the end of the chapter. This isn't something Lott taught his children, obviously since he is unhappy to hear that Jacob is already "dumb with allegiance," it's just one of those things that make the two generations very similar.

As pointed out earlier, there are points where Lott is hoping that his children will be different, and at that point he comes into the picture as the father once again to give his children a better childhood. An example of this comes during the "Learning Sex" chapter. Lott’s experience learning sex was simple; he learned most of it from people in school and other not so accurate sources. By the time his father finally asked him what he wanted to know, Lott had this to say, “I already know” (p. 94). Later on, Lott writes, “At least—and at best—both Zeb’s mom and dad have had a hand in how he came to find out” (p. 96). This means that Lott learned from his experiences as a child to become the father that he is now. Instead of letting his children become just like him, he steps in to make sure that Zeb and eventually Jacob don't have to go through middle school believing all the lies that get spread around. This is obviously more of a contrast from his childhood experience but Lott early on decided after his own childhood that his children should be different.

Throughout his essays, Lott, whether or not on purpose, shows huge similarities between his childhood and his children's. Whether it's the allegiance that brother's are destined to show for each other or something as small as garage sliding, Lott and his children have similar childhood experiences. Lott was able to recognize that this was happening and made sure to be a different father in some cases. One of these being the "Learning Sex" chapter when he writes about how he made sure his children would have a different knowledge of sex than he did and that they'd learn it at the right age. Throughout this book, Bret Lott shows through his writing that his childhood and his children's childhood can easily be compared. His writing is constantly comparing and contrasting the two and there are definitely a lot more similarities than differences. The parts of Zeb and Jake's childhood that are completely different are mainly due to Lott's parenting being different then his father's.