In the excerpt from Rick Bragg’s memoir, All Over but the Shoutin’, Bragg talks about going to see his dying father. The scene itself is pretty short and there is little conversation between Bragg and his father. Bragg shows the significance of this scene by describing how he felt and what changed him during their last meeting. Bragg was about to leave, without an apology or any sign of regret from his father, when his father gave him a large collection of books. Though his father knew nothing about the books, or what they were about, he knew that reading was important to Bragg. This then leads to Bragg say, “I just stood there, trapped between my-long standing, comfortable hatred, and what might have been forgiveness. I am trapped there still.”
