An Armadillo that Created the Perfect Father

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                Maria Jose Valenzuela                         September 25/2002                Period 3 An Armadillo that Created the Perfect Father Dan Needham is a very important character for the development of John Irving’s novel especially for one of the book’s theme. Tabitha John’s mother met Dan for the first time in the good old Boston and Maine (Irving 40). Harriet Wheelwright, Tabitha’s mother informs the reader about the origin of the Needham family referring to it as a traditional name that could be traced back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony (Irving 43). Dan Needham studied in Harvard and he worked as a drama teacher and a theater director in the Gravesend Academy (Irving 43). From the first time Tabitha’s family especially John heard about
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the existence of Dan he knew he was special. John refers to him in this way because he had seen many of his mothers “dates” before, but he had never seen her mother referring to somebody so openly, telling them she liked him and that she wanted the family to meet him (Irving 45). Physically Dan Needham was also different from the rest of Tabitha’s “dates” who were good looking, Dan was tall and gawky, his hair was curly and colored, and he had a sizable bottom and wore eye glasses that didn’t fit his face. His cloth didn’t fit ...

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