Father and Son

1944 Words4 Pages

The relationship between a father and a son is not solely filled with love but one that can create pain and the sense of longing. This relationship assists in making a boy recognize right from wrong. The author of In Our Time, Ernest Hemingway, cleverly uses short stories to create Nick Adams, a fictional character whose life is analogous to Hemingway himself. Salman Rushdie also writes in parallel to his situations. However, he uses a different approach in his writing style to show the adventure of the protagonist in Haroun and the Sea Of Stories. The authors share common themes, which is failed marriages and the absence of a mother. Through analysis of the novels, one may be able to recognize the different perspectives of both authors on relationships between a father and his son. Hemingway presents the story of himself as the son of Henry Adams. Rushdie, however, presents himself as the father of Haroun. Hemingway portrays a responsible father teaching his son important life lessons whereas Rushdie portrays the father as helpless and one that needs his son’s support to regain his gift. Although Ernest Hemingway’s collection of short stories, In Our Time, and Salman Rushdie’s heartwarming comical tale, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, are separated by time and cultures, they both express their perspective on the familial relationship between a child and his father.
In terms of father-son relationships, the father is a very important role model for his son, and every boy needs a fatherly figure. In his collection of short stories that comprise In Our Time, Hemingway shows Nick Adams as a child that lives and learns under his father’s guidance. Dr. Adams is a central figure in two of the short stories, “Indian Camp” and “The Doctor ...

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