“The Farmer's Children” by Elizabeth Bishop tells the story of a simple farming family and the untimely deaths of two family members. Whenever the farmer left to go to town, his sons, Cato and Emerson, were left to guard the barn that contained expensive equipment. However, on one fateful night when the children had that responsibility and the weather was growing colder, their stepmother would not give them anything to keep them warm. When they arrived at the stable they were cold and eventually had to spend the night in the cold without any heat. The next day, when the father looked for them in the stable, he saw his children frozen dead in the stable. The Farmer’s Children” Bishop uses techniques such as allusion, foreshadowing, and symbolism to explore the idea of ​​neglect on the part of parents and how their actions lead to the deaths of Cato and Emerson. Bishop often alluded to parental neglect by comparing the story to a famous fairy tale: “Hansel and Grethel.” Cato and Emerson had to live with their rather cruel stepmother, much like Hansel and Grethel, who had an unloving stepmother. The stepmother in "The Farmer's Children" was often described as "...romantic and overly generous with her own children" while also acting rather cruelly towards her stepchildren whenever they made a simple mistake. Likewise, Hansel and Grethel's stepmother also did not love her stepchildren and even wanted to get rid of them by leaving the children in the forest so that they would not return home. Their stepmother was considered cruel as she even called Hansel and Grethel “naughty children” for staying in the forest, even though she was the one who abandoned them. All this despite Cato's stepmother not wanting to get rid of... half the paper... making sure Cato and Emerson were warm for the night. Considering all these points one can see the significance of Elizabeth Bishop's “The Farmer's Children” as a story of how parents' negligence towards their children could greatly affect them. Even though it is rare for the outcome to be death, Bishop is showing how important it is to properly care for children and how at all times one should show them warmth and a caring nature. In society, many parents neglect or do not show enough attention to their children and this could lead to many problems as the child grows up. The same thing could have happened to Cato and Emerson, except their parents led to something much more serious: their deaths. In fact, if the parents had bothered to take care of Cato and Emerson, it is possible that they would not have had to suffer such a tragic end as being frozen to death..