The Parents’ Unequal Survival

This thread contrasts the mother’s capacity to imagine a future in America with the father’s persistent grief and estrangement from his adopted home.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Mother’s Hope

Looking Forward A New Country Rabo’s mother finds much to like in the United States and dreams about a family future there. She sees possibility where his father sees only the disappearance of the world he loved. A Risk for Her Son She recognizes that talent might offer Rabo a way out of poverty. Her initiative in contacting an admired Armenian illustrator helps set him on the path toward New York and an artistic life.

A Father in Exile

Life After Loss A Cobbler by Choice Rabo’s father returns to the craft he learned as a boy, despite his education and former life as a teacher and poet. He treats his diminished circumstances as a form of self-punishment. A Lost Homeland He speaks Armenian at home and mourns the massacre’s dead, while the surrounding town feels culturally foreign. His despair helps explain why the false promise of San Ignacio never becomes a satisfying home.

The Father’s Final Movie

Death in the Theater A Solitary Evening Rabo’s father goes alone to see “Captains Courageous” and remains in his seat after the audience leaves. He dies in the Bijou Theater, far from the community and language he lost. Grief Reinterpreted Rabo later understands his father’s alienation as a survivor’s burden, but that insight does not erase their painful relationship. Circe’s questions make him revisit the possibility that he judged his father too harshly.

After the family settles in California, before Rabo turns twelve

During Rabo’s childhood in San Ignacio

1938, when Rabo’s father dies