Hurricane Song by Paul Volponi

Jacob Sutton 708    

Hurricane Song

by Paul Volponi

          In Hurricane Song by Paul Volponi, the reader is given an inside look into what it was like taking shelter in the Superdome in New Orleans during  Hurricane Katrina.  The story centers around the distant relationship between Miles and his father, a jazz musician, who often pays more attention to his music than to his son. Miles has been living with his father for a few months in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hits. Miles, his dad and his uncle try to leave before the storm, but their car breaks down and they are forced to head to the Superdome. They spend the length of the storm there, in unbearable heat, among crowds of people, with broken toilet facilities, little food and water and violent conditions. As the situation in the Superdome gets worse, Miles and his father are challenged in ways that they never imagined and their relationship takes an unexpected turn.

At the beginning of the story, Miles, a high school sophomore, wonders if he had made the right choice in coming to live with his father in New Orleans.  He has lived with his mother in Chicago ever since his parents divorced when he was small, but his mother recently remarried and Miles no longer felt that this was where he wanted to be.  Now that he is in New Orleans, he is confronted with the reality of his relationship with his dad, or lack of it, and the differences between them.  In an obvious way, his father loves to play on his trumpet all day, while Miles is a football player. Miles’ father thinks that instead of football, he should be focusing on music. And Miles thinks that his father’s music playing is taking away from their relationship together. At this point in the story, Miles and his dad do not know how to communicate with each other.

Together, Miles and his dad experience some of the worst possible conditions imaginable.  Soon after they enter the Superdome, groups of thugs, some of whom Miles knew from school, demand money, food and clothing and terrorize innocent victims of this disaster.  Miles and his father come together to try to stop some of the violence around them.  In the end, as they survive these horrible conditions, they realize what is really important and their relationship gets much stronger.

Though the conditions in the Superdome were somewhat unique, I believe this connects to humanity as difficult experiences often bring people closer together.  I can remember feeling much closer to my dad after we spent time in a homeless shelter and witnessed some of the appalling living conditions there.  On a broader level, I imagine that people who go through disasters together (as did Miles and his dad) and share those experiences, realize the important things in life and leave behind all those superficial things that do not really matter in the end.