In Scott Russell Sanders "The Inheritance of Tools," the first person narrator explains the importance of family relationships and parental guidance in the construction of a human being

        “The grain in hickory is crooked and knotty, and therefore tough, hard to split, like the grain in the two men who owned this hammer before me,” states the narrator when speaking of the character of his father and grandfather.  From the experiences with his father and the stories of his grandfather, the narrator describes how he obtained his character and personality.  The character lessons learned from his grandfather begin with the story of the house he built.  He says, “after proposing marriage to a neighbor girl, my grandfather used this hammer to build a house for his bride on a stretch of river bottom in northern Mississippi.”  One character lesson he learned from his father is explained when the narrator says, “[“If you’re going to cut a piece of wood,”] my father insisted, [“You owe it to the tree to cut it straight.”]”  This may seem like a typically carpentry lesson, but the narrator learns, if you are going to do something you should do it correctly.  The author took pride in the work completed by his hands and spoke of how there are machines these days that do things much easier, yet he refused to use them because of what he learned with his double inheritance.  When speaking of why he would not use machines, he expresses his personality saying, “the skill is in the gadget instead of the person who uses it, and this is what distinguishes a machine from a tool.”  When the narrator’s father dies, his character is put to a true test, but he doesn’t lose his temper or even break down and cry. Instead, he went back to work and made sure it was done perfectly.  The relationship he had with his father was very important, but the character his father taught him was what guided him through his troubles.

        The bond created between the narrator and his father was built around the tools that they used in the presence of one another.  The narrator would be in the workshop mimicking his father by making little creations, while his father worked on projects for the family.  The author describes the love his father showed by saying, “he would turn them over in his hands admiringly, speculating about what they might be.”  The narrator uses the same circumstances to build strong relationships with his own children.  He states, “So I have seen my apprenticeship to wood and tools reenacted in each of my children, as my father saw his own apprenticeship renewed in me,” after watching his son and daughter do some of the same things he did as a child.  His double inheritance also taught him compassion that he used on his daughter when her gerbils were stuck in the wall he had built.  The narrator took his daughter’s breath away when he said, “And if that doesn’t do the trick, I’ll tear the wall apart until we find them.”  This taught his daughter that she was more important to him than the hours of craftsmanship he put into building the wall.  Each person in this family is affected by the love and kindness that was passed down from the generation before, which aided in a strong family foundation that is still being shared today.