Rabo’s Father as Cobbler

This thread follows the father’s descent from educated refugee to isolated craftsman and Rabo’s later attempt to understand his choices.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Teacher Who Escaped

Education Interrupted A Life Before Exile Rabo’s father is a teacher and poet before the massacre destroys his community. His memories of the still village after the killings become an enduring private horror. Escape and Displacement He crosses into safety and later emigrates, but physical survival does not restore his former identity. The loss of relatives, language community, and homeland follows him into America.

The Shop Above the Street

Work Without Belonging The Cobbler’s Routine In California, Rabo’s father repairs shoes and laments his life in Armenian. He has the skills to return to teaching, but cannot imagine a future that would redeem the losses he has suffered. A Quiet Rejection His refusal to embrace local life is not simply homesickness; it reflects shame at being alive when so many loved ones are dead. Rabo grows up hearing grief expressed as sarcasm and self-contempt.

A New Kind of Craft

Beauty from Scraps The Cowboy Boots After financial ruin, Rabo’s father begins making dazzling cowboy boots decorated with cut metal shapes. The artistry surprises Rabo, who sees his father’s eyes as strangely absent while he works. A Pattern Repeated Rabo later recognizes a similar transformation in Terry Kitchen when painting overtakes ordinary personality. The father’s work becomes a puzzle about whether creative talent liberates a person or carries them away from others.

Before the family leaves the Armenian homeland

Rabo’s childhood in San Ignacio

After the family’s savings are lost, when Rabo is a teenager