Paul Irving—Stephen Irving

Paul Irving—Stephen Irving is a loving father-son relationship marked by absence, grief, and the expectation of reunion. Paul’s accounts present Stephen as a reserved man whose tenderness is difficult to see at first, but whose love reaches his son through careful understanding and a birthday gift that preserves the memory of Paul’s mother. Their bond is strong even while they live apart: Paul imagines his father’s loneliness, hopes to return to him when he is grown, and trusts him to make wise choices about their family’s future.

Identity and Circumstances

Paul lives with his grandmother, Mrs. Irving, while Stephen is frequently away from home on business. Paul explains that his father considers a housekeeper unsuitable for bringing up a young boy, especially given his absences, and Paul regards grandmothers as the next best caregivers after mothers. This arrangement leaves father and son apart without diminishing Paul’s sense of belonging to his father. He imagines Stephen as lonely without him, and the prospect of going back to him is part of Paul’s picture of growing up: once he is brought up, he expects they will no longer be separated.

The relationship is also shaped by the death of Paul’s mother. Paul tells Anne Shirley that he only became really acquainted with his father after his mother died. He loves Stephen more than anyone, yet says that speaking to him about his mother was difficult because it made Stephen feel so badly. When Stephen covered his face, Paul understood that he should stop. The gesture becomes an intimate measure of their shared grief: a son attentive to his father’s pain, and a father whose sorrow is visible even when he cannot discuss it.

Understanding and Affection

Paul’s account distinguishes Stephen’s reserve from a lack of warmth. He describes his father as hard to get acquainted with, but splendid once known. Anne Shirley, who has heard Paul speak at length about both parents, imagines Stephen as a man of deep, tender feeling who keeps it carefully hidden from the world. Her impression is grounded in Paul’s testimony: he believes his father understood him fairly well, even though their conversations about his mother were constrained by grief.

Paul’s affection is expressed with an almost ceremonial order. He loves Stephen best, places Mrs. Irving next because she is doing so much for him, and names Anne Shirley after her. His ranking does not suggest that love is merely a competition; Paul connects it to gratitude and duty, particularly toward the grandmother who cares for him. At the same time, his wish to return to his father makes clear that care from his grandmother does not replace the bond he hopes to resume with Stephen.

The Birthday Portrait

Stephen’s birthday present gives the relationship a concrete form. Mrs. Irving keeps a bookcase drawer locked, and Paul suspects that his father has sent something he will especially like. The gift is a portrait of Paul’s mother. After Paul asks for it to be hung where he will see it as soon as he wakes, it takes its place on the wall at the foot of his bed. Paul says that he no longer minds going to bed without a lamp because the portrait makes him feel that his mother is with him.

The gift shows Stephen’s attentiveness: although he did not ask Paul what he wanted, he selected something his son cherishes. Paul treats this as evidence of how well fathers can understand their children. The portrait also connects father and son through a loss that Paul finds difficult to discuss with Stephen directly. Stephen cannot undo the separation or restore Paul’s mother, but he gives his son a way to keep her close. The present is therefore both a sign of Stephen’s knowledge of Paul and a keepsake through which their shared family life remains present in Paul’s daily surroundings.

Trust and the Hope of Reunion

A conversation with Rachel Lynde introduces the possibility that Stephen might marry again. Paul dislikes being asked to consider a new mother, especially because Rachel Lynde has just seen his mother’s portrait, but he responds with confidence in his father’s judgment. Since Stephen chose his first mother well, Paul believes he can trust him to choose well again. His trust does not mean the prospect is unimportant to him: he hopes Stephen will ask his opinion before making such a choice. Paul can imagine a future family change while still asserting that he should have a voice in it.

The relationship thus holds together confidence and longing. Paul does not describe an estrangement or a rejection; he speaks of a loving father whom he cannot yet live with, and of a future return he expects when he is older. Stephen’s absence is consequential, but Paul’s picture of their bond remains secure: he trusts his father’s affection, judgment, and knowledge of him. The evidence presents that reunion as a hope, not as an accomplished event, leaving the relationship defined by the promise Paul carries forward.