The speaker of "Follower" seems pretty young for most of the poem—he's looking into the past when he was a child, following his dad around the field as he plowed. Although he doesn't show any natural knack for being able to plow (he's clumsy and chatty), he thinks he wants to be plowman like his father. (Lots of luck, junior.) As a kid, it's normal to want to identify with those we admire (especially if they're part of your family—parents and older siblings are prime candidates), and we spend a lot of time following them around, trying our hardest to be like them regardless of how different we actually are. This poem is a perfect example of a young person wanting to shape his identity based on the person he admires most: his dad. And while he doesn't end up being a farmer, the two are still together on into the boy's adulthood. Only now, years later, the grown-up boy seems to be finally assuming his father's identity of being a leader and setting the pace, while the dad lapses back into the boy's following ways.
Questions About Identity
- Why do you think the boy would want to follow in his father's footsteps as a farmer if he (the son) didn't seem to have any of the skill or strength it took to become one? Why wouldn't he choose something he was more naturally suited for?
- Do you think the son's careful attention to his father helped shape his own identity in any way, even if he didn't grow up to become a farmer? Why or why not?
- Does the final stanza (when the father is following the son around) give any indication that the son has found an identity of his own? Why or why not?
Chew on This
Coattails can be a good place to grow up. Following his father around and admiring him was an important part of shaping the speaker's identity.
The speaker had to learn what he was not good at (plowing or other physical work) in order to shape his own identity and explore other things he might be better at. Keep your options open, Shmoopers.