In Harry Mark Petrakis's story "The Song of Rodanthe" and in Amanda Michalopoulou's story "The Firefly Hunt" the themes revolve around the how parents' decisions affect their lives. children. In "Song of Rodanthe" the main character is not allowed to choose the man she wants to marry unless her father approves. In "The Firefly Hunt" the main character attempts to reconnect with his children after divorcing his mother. The theme of male figures attempting to control the women around them is common in Greek culture and writing. In Petrakis and Michalopoulou's stories the reader is shown how daughters are influenced by the choices made by their fathers. Michalopoulou is selectively descriptive when it comes to the main character of the unnamed father. With Michalopoulou's description of the father the reader is led to believe that he does not care about his children: "He had become accustomed to their backs, but he had not seen their faces for a long time" (Michalopoulou, 77). Throughout the story it can be seen that the father is not completely as he was perceived in the beginning. The father sneaks in and starts cheating on his wife. The reader is informed that the wife is confined to a wheelchair and cannot move due to paralysis. When his father is "caught" cheating, he leaves home and begins a life with his lover, a young real estate agent. Feeling guilty for leaving her two children, she tries to reconnect with them. The children, Christina and Stella, believe that what their father did to their mother was "terrible". Leaving home didn't just affect their mother, it affected them too, since they were both so young. The father doesn't really understand that by divorcing their mother he has done the same to them: "'When you get older, ... middle of paper ... children are left with the inability to make decisions." for themselves or end up rebelling The opposite is true in "The Firefly Hunt" as the daughters do not have a father figure for a period of time, thus forcing them to take care of each other and grow up faster than they should. In Harry Mark Petrakis' short story "Song of Rodanthe" and Amanda Michalopoulou's short story "The Firefly Hunt" the concept of parents' actions influencing their children plays an important role. Although Rodanthe, a twenty-seven year old woman, is not allowed to make decisions for herself. She is forced to act out making her sad and lonely. In "The Firefly Hunt", Christina and Stella are forced to grow up faster than they should due to their father's absence from both stories, it is shown how daughters are affected by the choices made by their fathers.