Romulus My Father

In the text Romulus my father, written by Raimond Gaita, the main character of Romulus’s life is marked by suffering. Gaita who is the son of Romulus, includes plenty personal and descriptive accounts of his father Romulus. Many of these accounts involve examples of how Romulus life was marked by suffering. Such suffering occurred throughout Romulus life by having to move away from his homeland to Australia, being denied his love for education, having to work his hands to the bone in order to scrape by and the overall conditions that Romulus lived by to constantly support others. Only Romulus being the strong man of physical stamina and perseverance could have copped with these painful circumstances.

Having to leave the Romanian speaking part of Yugoslavia and make the move to Australia would have cut Romulus deep. Romulus always ‘considered him a Romanian’ and the first glimpse of the suffering that Romulus went though occurred early. At a young age Romulus pushed through family problems to the point of being prepared to shoot his drunken uncle who was about to beat his grandfather. No child wants to go though this but Romulus fought through the difficult time. Another factor of the move would have been Christine’s deteriorating health and her input enforced the move. He then began his journey to Australia where the poor guy was greeted with tough circumstances and horrendous suffering.

From a young age Romulus was denied a full education, the one thing he strived for. For two of his early years in Australia he was forced to work manually to pay off his debts. Soon after Romulus he was forced to adapt to the terrible living conditions as he undertook a blacksmith apprenaship. Romulus was paid well below wages and cheated out of being able to sell his own creations. Being the practical genius he was, it was a shame that such ideas as the egg washing machine, couldn’t