Herman Roth's care for Alvin and eventual decision to send him away

Herman Roth’s bond with his nephew Alvin is defined by care that persists through distance, disability, and anger, but never settles into an easy reunion. Herman drives for hours to visit Alvin in the army hospital, breaks down at the sight of his suffering, and helps bring him back into the family home. Later, as Alvin withdraws and the family faces political harassment, Herman’s concern hardens into confrontation: he insists on the obligations of home life even as Alvin’s pain and independence pull him away. Their relationship is not resolved by a single gesture of welcome or rejection; it remains a struggle over how care can be given when it is refused, tested, or exhausted.

A Visit Made at Any Cost

When Alvin is hospitalized after losing a leg while serving with the Canadian Armed Forces, Herman drives north to see him. He leaves before his sons are awake, carrying food packed for the long journey, and has only Friday away from work. The trip requires a drive each way, a visit on Saturday, and a return in time for Monday’s staff meeting. After several flat tires, Herman reaches work without first going home. The effort is practical and self-denying: he gives up rest and takes on a punishing journey because Alvin is in the hospital and needs a family member beside him.

What Herman finds there overwhelms him. Alvin is severely underweight, refuses food, and seems unwilling to take part in his own recovery. Herman tries to reach him by recalling the strength of Alvin’s parents and describing endurance as a family inheritance. He reminds Alvin that his mother had to carry on after his father died, with a child to raise. The appeal does not reassure Herman that Alvin has heard him. When he recounts the visit to his family, he breaks down before he can finish describing the sick young men around Alvin’s bed. It is the first time Philip has seen his father cry. Herman’s grief makes clear that Alvin’s condition is not a distant misfortune to him; it has entered the emotional center of the household.

Bringing Alvin Home

At the train station, Herman tries to steady Philip before Alvin arrives, telling him not to fear either his cousin or the missing leg. Alvin returns in a wheelchair, pushed from the train by a Red Cross worker. Sandy Roth runs to him first, and Herman remains close enough to guide Philip through his own fear. Alvin addresses Herman by name but says little. Herman answers by stressing that Alvin is home and that the family will take him home. The brief exchange carries both welcome and distance: Herman offers belonging, while Alvin’s silence leaves the reunion emotionally uncertain.

The household makes concrete accommodations for Alvin’s return. Herman had rescued Alvin’s belongings after Alvin left to join the Canadian Armed Forces, and the family cleans and prepares his clothes. Because Alvin will need easy access to the bathroom, Sandy moves out of the bedroom he shares with Philip, making room for Alvin. These arrangements do not erase the difficulty of living with a changed body or a changed family routine, but they give Herman’s welcome a material form. He does not simply urge Alvin to come back; the household rearranges itself around his needs.

Alvin’s recovery is difficult and frustrating. He tells Philip that using an artificial leg brings setbacks, while crutches also cause problems, and that he must use elastic bandages when the prosthesis is off. The account gives the disability the texture of repeated practical demands rather than presenting the return home as a complete restoration. Philip, who has feared looking at Alvin and touching the supplies associated with his care, brings the bandages when asked. Alvin rewards him with a gentle gesture, creating a brief point of connection across the boy’s apprehension. Herman’s earlier appeal to strength thus meets a reality that cannot be overcome by willpower alone: Alvin’s body and daily life have changed, and the family must learn how to live with that change.

Care Under Pressure

The welcome becomes harder to sustain as Alvin grows bitter and pulls away from ordinary family expectations. Political scrutiny reaches the Roth household: an FBI agent questions Herman at work, as well as Bess Roth and the children. Alvin is absent from dinner, having gone downtown with Shushy Margulis after winning money at cards. Herman objects to Alvin’s absence and behavior, and his frustration is intensified by the intrusion of investigators into his family and workplace. He argues that no one sent Alvin to war; Abe Steinheim had wanted him to attend college, and Alvin made his own choice to enlist. Herman’s account of Alvin’s responsibility clashes with the mother’s emphasis on the bitterness of a young man living with the loss of his leg.

Herman’s anger turns into a threat to withdraw the home he had worked to offer. He says Alvin can go live with Shushy, and he rejects the idea that Alvin’s current lack of direction should excuse him from seeking work or returning to school. The remark is not evidence that Herman has ceased to care; it shows how care becomes entangled with judgment and exhaustion. He had traveled to Alvin’s hospital bed and helped welcome him back, but he also expects Alvin to take part in family life and resents both his withdrawal and the pressure placed on the rest of the household. The distance between them is especially sharp because Herman has treated Alvin’s return as a family responsibility, while Alvin’s choices now seem to Herman to push that responsibility away.

Fracture and Continuing Responsibility

The conflict later becomes physical. In the week before the family’s desperate effort to protect Seldon Wishnow, Alvin assaults Herman, and the confrontation leaves the family facing a wrecked living room and Herman seriously hurt. The episode marks a severe rupture between uncle and nephew, following the earlier pattern in which Herman’s efforts to help meet Alvin’s anger and resistance. The account does not present a reconciliation between them. Instead, it shows a family under cumulative strain, with private conflicts unfolding alongside fear of violence in the wider community.

Even amid that strain, Herman’s wider practice of care remains visible. When Seldon is alone in Kentucky and the family fears for his safety, Herman is prepared to drive there and bring him back if Mrs. Wishnow has been harmed. The immediate rescue is organized by Bess Roth, who calls the Mawhinneys and makes a plan for Seldon to stay with them, but Herman’s readiness to make the journey shows that responsibility still takes practical form in this household. It does not settle what will happen between Herman and Alvin. Rather, it clarifies the tension at the center of their relationship: Herman repeatedly acts as a guardian, while his anger at Alvin’s refusal of the life he hopes for him threatens to turn protection into rejection. Their bond is therefore neither simple reconciliation nor simple estrangement, but care strained by injury, incompatible expectations, and fear.