The Bond Between Husband and Son

This emotional thread follows the tenderness and alliance between the father and the son, which grows as the mother withdraws.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Tree for a Long Life

The Tree for a Long Life Context At the six-month celebration, the husband wants to plant a tree for the baby's long life. The narrator smiles like a fool and doesn't know what to say. Turn The husband is thinking in terms of endurance and rootedness, while the narrator imagines the knife in her hand. The tree is his answer to her instability. Aftermath The tree planting becomes a symbol of the father's commitment. He is already building a vertical world of continuity for the child.

The Burnt Palms

The Burnt Palms Context The baby crawls toward the fireplace and sticks his hands into the embers while the narrator watches from outside. The father reacts the way Bush did when he heard about the Twin Towers. Turn He runs for bandages and anti-inflammatory pills, with a stupid towel around his waist, and applies TCP to the child's palms and feet. The child snarls instead of crying. Aftermath The father is the first responder in the house. The bond between father and son is built out of these moments of practical rescue.

The Singing Duo

The Singing Duo Context The father and son sit in the front and sing softly in English, love me, love me, say that you love me. The narrator blocks them out with Mozart in the back. Turn The two of them share a language she refuses to enter. Their singing becomes a private club of two. Aftermath The bond between father and son is strengthened by the journey that excludes the mother. The car is a small nation with its own anthem.

The Father and Son at the Gate

The Father and Son at the Gate Context The narrator comes out of the institution to find the father all dressed up and the son in his football kit, holding hands. They are a unit waiting for her. Turn The son, who can now say coing coing and taca taca, is presented as proof of how well the father has managed alone. The narrator is a visitor to their harmony. Aftermath The father-son bond has become the stable center of the family, while the mother is the one returning from exile.

The Two Stooges

The Two Stooges Context The narrator locks herself in a room after the roadside assignation, and on the other side of the door her husband and son whine and make a fuss. They slide dirty messages under the door: we love you, Mummy. Turn The two stooges paint their lips pink and laugh at their own joke. The son climbs onto the grown-up's head, and they become a single two-bodied monster. Aftermath The father and son are so merged that the narrator cannot distinguish them. Their bond is the fortress she cannot enter.

early in the story, at the baby's six-month celebration

after the baby grabs the fireplace embers

during the car journey to the institution

at the narrator's release from the institution

before the final separation, when the narrator locks herself in the room