Father is one of the most interesting characters in this book. Even though he can be explained away as just the friendly racist of the story, I think he is much more complex than that and these complexities are well exposed in the baseball game that he takes his son to. When he takes his son to the baseball game it is to connect with him, the connection father thought had been lacking with all of the Coalhouse Walker business happening in the household. When he goes to the game, he is shocked to find that the game is overrun with immigrants which he does not like at all.
He describes the experience as being nostalgic towards the days when he used to play baseball at Harvard. To me this is very interesting as it seems to pain him that he is nostalgic by a game that he no longer views as civilized; a game that is overrun with immigrants. Why would he be nostalgic to the years when he used to play the game the "right" way when he sees a bunch of immigrants playing it?
Another interesting aspect of father is the interaction that he has with Willie Conklin. When Conklin puts his hand on fathers shoulder, a seemingly innocuous gesture, father is shocked that Conklin would act in a way that deems them equals; a viewpoint that father certainly does not share. This interaction shows how inbuilt social status and class structures are to father. The chapter 29 description of his upbringing and the constant contradicting viewpoints father has within his mind are very interesting as the book unfolds.
He describes the experience as being nostalgic towards the days when he used to play baseball at Harvard. To me this is very interesting as it seems to pain him that he is nostalgic by a game that he no longer views as civilized; a game that is overrun with immigrants. Why would he be nostalgic to the years when he used to play the game the "right" way when he sees a bunch of immigrants playing it?
Another interesting aspect of father is the interaction that he has with Willie Conklin. When Conklin puts his hand on fathers shoulder, a seemingly innocuous gesture, father is shocked that Conklin would act in a way that deems them equals; a viewpoint that father certainly does not share. This interaction shows how inbuilt social status and class structures are to father. The chapter 29 description of his upbringing and the constant contradicting viewpoints father has within his mind are very interesting as the book unfolds.
This is an interesting point you make about Father being "nostalgic by a game that he no longer views as civilized." I didn't think of his nostalgia in that way before. As we touched on in class, the "good old days" are often remembered better than they were. Father's college ball days could have been similar in their vulgarity to that of the current game (thus subconsciously sparking his memory and feeling of nostalgia).
ReplyDeleteI didn't think of it until now just after I read your post, but father's constant contradicting viewpoints are pretty interesting. I think the main one I'm thinking of is his rejection of Coalhouse, and then his acceptance of Coalhouse to please his wife, and then his rejection of Coalhouse again, this time it being like a, "HA! I told you so," one.
ReplyDeleteHis "acceptance" of Coalhouse always seems pretty qualified to me. You're right, Chris, that it has a lot to do with keeping Mother happy (and he's increasingly confused about just what WILL "keep her happy"), but he never really gets past his casually racist assumptions about Coalhouse's "place" and the extent to which he should "know it."
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