Ernest Buckler's David Comes Home

In their lifetimes, many people experience the loss of loved ones and the departure of children. One of the most difficult things to do is to keep strong and good relations with friends and family members, before it is too late. The short story “David Comes Home”, by Ernest Buckler, follows Joseph, who worries his son David never had the same connection to the land as he does, though memories of past experiences, finding old belongings, and discovering the boy’s true feelings, resolve this conflict.

Firstly, through Joseph’s memories and thoughts, conflict is revealed by him remembering his experiences with his son. Joseph recalls the first time he went camping overnight in the woods with David. That evening, Joseph knew his son was awake, “but was not sure whether [he] had been happy or just tired. He could not ask him, even then.” Joseph always had troubles talking to his son, but hoped that his actions had made an impact on his son, leaving him a time to remember and enjoy; a time he was happy. Joseph knew his son was bright, “proud of the many new things [he] could read and understand,” but worried that would lead him to going away. Joseph remembered the day David went off to

Joseph was working out in the fields, when he absently turned over a sod, finding David’s old spinner. This object made him remember his old relations with his son, and their time together. The morning his son had lost his spinner was the same day Joseph had taken David “back in the woods fishing and David had stayed all night in the camp for the first time.” Joseph considered it to be something to hold on to David with, and remember him by. Near the end of the story, Joseph reburries the spinner, and marks it as “David’s spot,” keeping his son a part of the farm and fields forever, making him a part of the land, even if he was truly