Comparison of Two Short Stories by Tobias Wolff Essay

From the weekend tiping trips to thoroughgoing(a) hatred and denial, suffer- give-and-take sexual congressships croupe be characterized by many an other(prenominal) good and bad experiences. by and by reading the twain short stories Powder by Tobias Wolff and If the River was Whiskey by T. C. Boyle, which two feature beginner- news family relationships that argon placed to a lower place a large amount of stress. in that respect are many similarities and differences between these two relationships that are not apparent upon just a cursory glance. A come send away be completely brusk of his countersigns needs or try his best to realise them and still have turmoil within the relationship.After reading Wolffs short tale Powder, genius can conclude that the render tries quite hard-fought to make his son happy. In this business relationship the fore begetter takes the son to places the mother would not approve of in order to try and win his affection. Wolff states, Hed had to fight for the privilege of my company, because my mother was still wrothful with him for sneaking me into a nightclub during his last visit, to butt against Thelonious Monk (33). Taking his son to these places is his way of forming a obtain-son connection.Not only does he take his son skiing, he fights his wife for the privilege, and when she disagrees he does it without her k this instantledge. While this strengthens the father-son relation, the husband-wife relation is weakened. In this case the father is trying much to be the best friend instead of a role model, and in doing so lay downs conflicts with his wife. This directly affects the sons well being because what electric s shootr would be happy to see his parents fighting. In Wolffs story the father is displayed as being a risk-taker and boundary line reckless.This is where the father and son seem to clash in their relationship. Wolff writes, I perpetually thought ahead. I was a boy who kept his clothes o n numbered hangers to chequer proper rotation. I bothitherd my teachers for homework assignments furthest ahead of their due dates so I could project up schedules (36). Obviously, his father did not plan or think ahead, or he would have plotted on leaving the ski lodge proto(prenominal) in case they ran into trouble. When they got tweak the pathway, the state trooper tells them that the road is blocked and the son became annoyed and frustrated with his fathers carelessness.He says to his father we should have leftfield before (35) This comment made his father encounter inadequate, and he did not respond to it. His fathers recklessness directly affects their relationship. The boy is more want a man, and the father is more like a boy, showing the adult in a relationship is not always who it seems, but that people can learn close themselves by their relationships with others. The son was precise uneasy and nervous when his father started driving down the snow covered road o nce the trooper left his post.Wolff shows this when he writes to uphold my hands from vibration I clamped them between my knees (35). The connection was restored between them when the child decided to stop moping and began to enjoy himself. The child says, My father in his forty-eighth year, rumpled, human dead body, bankrupt of honor, flushed with certainty. He was a great driver. All persuasion, no coercion, much(prenominal)(prenominal) subtlety at the wheel, such tactful pedalwork. I actu everyy trusted him (37). This was a big crook point in their relationship because the child now sees greatness in his father that he had never seen before.In Boyles short story, If the River was Whiskey the similar rocky father-son relationship that slowly takes a unit of ammunition for the better is displayed. The father in Boyles story is much worse than the whizz in Wolffs story in that he is an inebriantic that did not spend much time with his son. While in Wolffs story spending tim e with his son made the father feel good, all the father in Boyles story needed was alcohol to feel good, giving no attention to his son. The wife attacks the father by saying, Weve been here two weeks and you harbort d nonpareil one damn topic with him, nothing, zero.You havent even been down to the lake. What kind of father are you? (231). Seeing his parents in such an argument affects the son by making him lost and nauseateful toward his father. When the son came home from tame he would find his father sitting in the dark, pig in his face, bent low over the guitar. There was an open feeding bottle of liquor on the umber table and a clutter of beer bottles (231). Coming gumption to this dreary home life after school and seeing ones father in this condition would be very traumatic.It shows him that his father doesnt care about his job and would rather be at home drinking while reminiscing about his past. The relationship between them finally took a unloose for the better when his father put down the bottle and decides to go fishing with Tiller and spend almost quality time with him. Boyle explains Tillers transport by saying It was too much for him all at oncethe sun, the breeze that was so sweet, the impudence of his father rowing, pale arms and a pansy clenched between his teeth, the boat rocking, and the birds whisperinghe closed his look a minute, just to keep from going dizzy with the joy of it (233).At this point, one can see that Tillers feelings of hate toward his father are diminishing. His fathers post also seems to have changed because he is making a conscious effort to not drink and have a good time on the water. When his father finally hooked a fish on his line, it was perhaps the climax of their relationship. Boyle writes, Tiller saw something in his eyes he precisely recognized anymore, a connection, a charge, as if the fish were sending a current up the line, through the pole, and into his hands and body and brain (234).That p assage shows that Tiller actually matte up him and his father finally connect. He describes it as hardly recognized because they had never really connected in this way before now. After his father pulled the fish up into the boat and Tiller realized it wasnt a pike, already the thing in his eyes was gone, already it was over (234). This is where Tiller gets the feeling that his father had let him down as he always had before. The connection was once again lost. In both T. C. Boyles and Tobias Wolffs stories the fathers accomplishs create a direct reflection on their son. In T. C.Boyles story the father does things that damage his other relationships to try and improve the one with his son, and this is shown to have an evenly bad result for the son as the one in Tobias Wolffs story. In both stories there is a critical element that seems to connect the father and son. In both Wolff and Boyles story the array of ones father performing a certain action creates an exhilarating short lived connection. A father can be completely inconsiderate of his sons needs or try his best to meet them and still create turmoil within the relationship that is occasionally cut off by a one of kind father-son connection.