‘I had to go and collect you. Like a dog’
The father’s emotional needs are blocked by his inability to communicate effectively and this continues the hostile and aggressive relationship. The boy can only react in a hostile manner to the hostility he faces, he creates more barriers:
‘He kicks the door closed in my face with his bare foot.’
This is a huge contrast to the relationship that the pair enjoyed in the past. Both of them reminisce about the past. The setting that is described is also important in showing the conflict – we see just how much the relationship has been destroyed. The father remembers when they went fishing: a calm past time that they both enjoyed:
‘the green bus to quiet days in Toome’
The connotation of green is of peace, nature and suggests a positive past. The son also remembers the past and does so in a positive way:
‘He used to dig the garden, grow vegetables…now…the weeds have taken over’
This imagery is effective in showing the contrast between the happiness of the past and the choking destruction of the present.
Through the use of McLaverty’s skilful character development, the conflict between father and son is climactic, building up to the inevitable tragedy. The structure of the short story is also effective in portraying conflict. The narrative splits from the first person narrative of the father to that of the son. On occasions, there is the intervention of a third person narrator which functions to show the distance between them. We are allowed to see each character’s innermost thoughts and feelings while being allowed to see the curt reactions expressed. The father’s desire to talk to his son is central to the story. His thoughts on the subject are eloquent:
‘Let me put my arm around your shoulders and let me
listen to what is making you thin’.
But the verbal exchanges between the pair are far from eloquent. The father is only able to verbalise his concern in a reproachful manner. His son sees this as interference in his privacy and, in the stereotypical manner, replies with sharp retorts. Every word spoken between them further distances them.
“‘Why don’t you tell me where you go?’
‘Look, Da, I have not touched the stuff since I came back. Right?’”
The son cannot see his father’s need to talk and his care for him. He sees every word as a criticism. The father, in his turn, sees the harsh words spoken by his son as hurtful and responds with recrimination.
“‘I let you go once – and look what happened’
‘Not this again’”
The reader is aware from the outset that this conflict is unlikely to be resolved. There seems to be no way back for the father and son. Any time the father tries to speak to the son something comes up and he puts it off. He uses repetition to express his urges:
‘I want you to talk to me…I want to hear you laugh…I want to know
why you don’t eat more…’
However, something always comes up and he reassures himself ‘at the weekend I will talk to him’ or the discussion is interrupted by the son trying to change the subject. McLaverty captures the very human tendency to wound with a demeaning comment and cast up every fall from grace.
Part of the conflict comes from the fact the son sees himself as the adult and his father as inferior. He tells his father that he should go to bed and chastises him for not shaving. The father also thinks that the son cannot take care of himself and no resolution is likely to come in this area either. The son says his father ‘ is an old woman’. He wants to ‘slap his face and make a man out of him’. The father believes his son to be in danger and believes he is responsible for keeping his son safe. He sees his son as ungrateful:
‘I pulled you away from death once and now you will not talk to me’
They both feel aggrieved at what they perceive as the other’s insensitivity and because of this, they both are unable to stop the conflict. Even the most intense moments do not provoke discussion between them. When the father thinks his son has been killed he is given the terse reply:
‘Well I’m not dead’.
The intensity of their feelings emerges in monosyllabic responses, and dismissive, snide remarks. The dialogue between them is abrasive, symbolised by the cheek of the grown up son.
What is more tragic about the conflict is that in character the pair are very similar. Although their flaws are separated by the specifics of generation, they are both under the same pressure. Neither of them are able to sleep: the father is able to accept this but the son is hypocritical in his views – he sleeps in the daytime ‘it is safe’ but sees his father as cowardly.
They both fear for the son’s safety, hiding weapons in order to protect against any potential threat. The father’s weapon is a gardening implement, that is within the boundaries of his experience but he is outraged when he sees his son with a gun. They both have experience with drugs, again albeit the father’s drug of choice is legal it shows they both need to escape from the conflict surrounding them.
Neither of them conform to the other’s idea of acceptable manliness. The son has long hair, doesn’t have a job or a girlfriend and had to have his father look after him. When he is angry his voice ‘breaks high… like a woman’. This does not conform to the father’s generation’s view of a man. Similarly, the father has become effeminate in his son’s eyes: he cries, he ‘just waits’, he is nosy, he performs household tasks. The father is aware that he has taken on the mother’s role but he is acceptant of the fact.
These similarities are poignant to the reader as we know all it would take is an open and honest discussion between the two in order to sort out their relationship, but we know it is never going to happen. The frustration of the reader is intensified by the feeling of foreboding which is present from the earliest moments of the story. It is clear that though the father must speak to his son, he constantly puts off any real conversation or physical contact.
The ending is the final resolution of the conflict, but in the most tragic way. The father is now able to put his arms around his son but only death has allowed this to happen. The father’s reaction to his son’s murder is typical – hoping for the best:
‘They have punched you and you are not badly hurt’
The imagery of ‘the house is open to the night’ is particularly effective at the end as we know that safety is found in daytime and we now realise that both of them were correct in trying to protect the son. The father’s worst nightmare has occurred and there will be no further opportunity to speak to his son and sort out their relationship.
Bernard McLaverty has effectively shown the effect of unresolved conflict within a family unit in his short story ‘Father and Son’. We see the violent effect of a violent society and are taught about the possible effects of non-communication. His characters ably demonstrate the human reaction of conflict and the ultimate tragedy of the failure to embrace your emotions and communicate with people you love.
