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: : Pjk wrote: : : " Is he thinking at first that his own father was : : remiss in not telling him about , but then : : realizes that he would do the same thing if his : : own son asked him the same question?" : : ======================================== : : [This is the fourth time I have tried to respond to Pjk's note. I hope this one goes through. The others didn't - obviously. L. S.] : : There are at least three parts to Nick's new awareness of his father at the end of this story: 1) Nick sees that he approves of his father's restraint in discussing with his son, that he joins him in this; but 2) that he, Nick, is better than his father in expressing this restraint, for his is not the extreme method used by his father (that is, Nick's method does not produce in his own son the ridiculous effect his father's instruction had on him: the desire to approach an Anna-Held type with a potato masher!). And 3)Nick is led to acknowledge to his own son his father's excellence and superiority in matters of hunting and sight. : : All of this accomplished through the questions and remarks of Nick's son, who happily (and, if I may risk such a statement, *symbollically*) awakens just as Nick is reliving his hate for his father; Nick's son redeems the love that Nick should (and usually does) feel for his father, a love that is confirmed by Nick's agreeing that they must soon visit Nick's father's grave. : : L. Swilley : Questions, so many questions. : I think that the first thing the readers sees is that : Nick seems to be trying to remember only his father's : good attributes, but his dislike for his father slips : in, almost without his relaizing it. "When he first thought : about him it was always the eyes. The big frame, the quick : movements, the wide shoulders, the hooked, hawk noce, the beared : that covered the weak chin, you never thought about - it was : always the eyes." But when he describes his father to his own : son, he only points out the good things. Is Nick comparing his : father's physically keen eyesight to his morally myopic attitude : towards . Has he changed his mind about his father when he (Nick) : describes him to his son? : "There had been a sign to detour in the center of the main street pof this : town, but cars had obviously gone through, so, believing it was some repair : which had been completed, Nicholas Adams drove on through the town along the : empty, brick-paved street, stopped by traffic lights that flashed on and off : on this traffic-less Sunday, and would be gone next year when the patments on : the system were not met..." : Is it becasue the construction, too, would not be completed becasue it would not : be paid for? The unheeded detour sign seems too prominant in the story not to : be drawing the reader's attention to something else. But what is it? Is there another : unheeded sign in the story? That Nick is ready to learn about from his father? : And the use of Nicholas as opposed to Nick which is used one other time, seems to : add a formality, but to what? Nicholas' relationship to his father? Or to his memory? : Thanks : Pjk

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