A Heart Breaking Work Of A Staggering Genius Sparknotes

Immediately in A Heart Breaking Work Of A Staggering Genius, we see that Eggers is conflicted at the time of writing in how to deal with many of his relationships, especially those that he holds with Toph. Eggers is suddenly thrust into loco Parentis, leaving his relationship with Toph to be presented as vulnerable, but for the most part, safe and secure for both of them.
We see that Eggers is conflicted throughout the memoir, he wants the best for Toph, but believe that he can only afford to provide for him the bare minerals. As a result of this we see Eggers trying to mould himself to the role of an encouraging parent by trying to disguise his messages to Toph through irony and sarcasm. "I'll never forget my brother, who tried so hard and suffered so long, lifted me over the heads of the throng to meet my destiny.” The adverbial phrase, “never forget my brother of the complex sentence’s main clause, “I’ll never forget my brother,” suggests Eggers reluctance to be parted from his closest remaining family member but with a

finality that makes the reader wonder why Eggers reacted so wildly to the babysitter. The possessive adjective, “my,” links to the personal pronoun, “I’ll,” to create the impression that Eggers is extremely protective of Toph and treats him as almost a sacred possession which may be due to Eggers fears of losing another family member. Here, Eggers seems almost reluctant to use Tophs’ name and disassociates himself from the situation; the pronoun, “who,” gives a mood of uncaringness that suggests that in the future Eggers’ fears that Toph will move on to bigger things and leave him behind and thus when imaging Tophs’ future he avoids making the situation real for himself so he doesn’t lose another family member. Although meant to be mockingly, there seems to be a degree of truth to Eggers words. The loco parentis in the memoir allows it to mature into dealing with more sensitive topics such as coping with death, which is maybe what Eggers wrote for. Considering this it maybe that looking after Toph made Eggers mature enough to write about his experiences and so Toph really was the thing that allowed him to meet his, “destiny.”
Eggers appears to be unsure of his boundaries in his and Tophs’ relationship and where to step in and intervene to help Toph, “warping of his fragile psyche.” The singular possessive pronoun, “his,” suggests that Eggers feels that Toph is being isolated as he doesn’t collect them both as one pairing as father and son but as two separate and equal entities. This also creates a polar contrast between Toph and Eggers and gives insight into where Eggers is the mature member in the duo as he doesn’t feel weakened by the deaths of their parents as he doesn’t use the plural possessive pronoun, “our.” The noun modifier “fragile psyche,” suggests that Eggers feels Toph needs extra help in dealing with the death of his parents as together with the isolated manner of just, “his,” represents maybe Eggers’ guilt at not being able to comfort Toph at the time of their death better.
It could be possible that at the time of writing, “Fuck, Toph, I am so sorry,” Eggers was overwhelmed by how he should be as a parent compared to how he actually is. The only word in the parenthetical phrase, “Toph,” suggests that Toph is the only thing that truly matters to Eggers since his parents died, it also isolates Toph as if Eggers thinks that nobody else would be there for Toph should something happen to him. The parenthetical phrase also creates the impression that Eggers believes that it is just him and Toph against the world which intensifies a possible layer of Eggers guilt for the way he has tried to bring up Toph out of the way of anymore harm. This however does show that Eggers is a responsible parent as even when in hospital, Toph is his uttermost priority.
We see Eggers trying to take a more paternal role through, “I’m gonna put you in bed.” The imperative sentence mood appears to be gentler than a command which could suggest that Eggers although knowing Toph was asleep, wanted some sign of consent to do this which could imply that Eggers doesn’t know where his boundaries are with Toph.

The imperative tone combined with the colloquialism, “gonna,” seems as if Eggers is more talking and reassuring himself rather than Toph. This could connote that Eggers knows this is what parents are supposed to do and is making a point of trying to do that for Toph so he doesn’t miss out on what kids with parents are treated like. However, the contrast between the two personal pronouns, “you,” and “I’m,” highlights a distance that Eggers is deliberately trying to keep between him and Toph which could imply that he doesn’t want to allow himself to become close to anyone after the death of his parents, not even

Toph.
To conclude, at the time of writing Eggers presents his ideas of parenting in a highly precariously unsettled manner which reflects his emotions at having to care for a life that isn’t just his own anymore. Eggers appears to be terrified at the prospect of failure in his role as a parent and yet opportunistic at allowing Toph to have a better childhood than he himself did. This ultimately leads to Eggers portraying a relationship with very little structure or boundaries where neither is child and neither is the primary care-giver; as although it should be Eggers , Toph takes care of Eggers as he does for Toph.