The Character Of Mr. Solchuck In The Broken Globe

Passion and commitment are two separate ideas, but when combined together are extremely powerful and can ultimately be responsible for forming ideas, In the short story “The Broken Globe”, the author Henry Kreisel presents a story about the troubles that people have accepting other’s perspectives that contradict their own and being empathetic towards those perspectives. Kreisel suggests that commitment and passion towards a belief can provide insight in an individual’s life, but can also lead to conflict between those in disagreement towards a specific subject. This idea is developed through the character, Mr. Solchuck who uses his religious faith to keep his character in check and have a profound respect for the Earth, does not take all to

those who challenge his beliefs. His son, Nick who is a geophysicist and is renowned universally for his work continually challenges his beliefs on the curvature in the Earth, resulting in inevitable conflict between the two who have a very strong passions. The inevitable conflict forces their relationship to collapse, and both ultimately have a want to restore what they originally had.

Throughout the story, Mr.

Solchuck displays that he uses his morals to make himself a better person and this results in him having greater insight in life. His beliefs lead him to have great respect for his land and the Earth in general. He is a firm believer that God was the creator of the Earth, and that what God makes, “no man should touch”. His religious faith in the founding of the Earth leads him to take care of his land, and he is ultimately worried that “there will be nobody to look after the land”, since Nick had left and he lives alone. Along with using his religious beliefs to take care of the Earth, he also uses his religious faith to keep his character in check. Mr. Solchuck is described by the narrator as “heroic” and that he speaks with “extraordinary formality”. Since Mr. Solchuck believes that “Satan has taken over the world” and that he feels very strongly about religion, one can assume he incorporates these Bible passages into his life and puts them into practice. Mr. Solchuck also feels that being a fatherly figure is important, and he tries to display this in his household. Mr. Solchuck is a firm believer that one should not go “against their father” and he refers to Nick as a “stubborn boy” for challenging his ideas. Contrary to popular belief, Mr. Solchuck also wants the best for Nick. When Nick comes home to tell his family what he learnt in school, Mr. Solchuck questions what the teacher is “stuffing in his head”. He attempts to use his ethics to

form Nick into the child he wishes for.

However, this idea of Mr.

Solchuck forcing his beliefs onto Nick results in their relationship only going backwards as Nick will not abandon his views on the Earth. In result of Nick continuing to believe in a spherical Earth, Mr. Solchuck attempts to prevent any interaction with his teacher, Miss McKenzie and endeavours to manipulate the situation. He believes that Miss McKenzie is “turning him crazy” and that she is teaching him “rubbish” and in result tries to keep Nick away from her classroom. Mr. Solchuck fails to do so, and receives a letter from Miss McKenzie stating that he cannot “try to keep him away from school”. As a result of Nick still receiving an education that is contrary to Mr. Solchuck’s ideas, Mr. Solchuck resorts to physical violence in order to prevent “Satan coming into [his ears]”. During an argument between him and Nick that leads to an outcome of complete disarray, Mr. Solchuck “beat [Nick] like he was the devil” and feels that “will learn him”. Even though Nick continually gets beaten for believing the Earth is round, he still holds onto his beliefs and these continued beatings results in Nick retaliating. Nick goes against his father’s ways and takes his toy globe and “throws it at [Mr. Solchuck]”. This infuriates Mr. Solchuck further leading into a continuous cycle of negativity, and ultimately results in them parting ways and they “never talk to [each other] about this

thing”.

As a result of this conflict, Mr. Solchuck continues to commit towards his religious beliefs but remains hopeful that he and Nick can maintain and recover their relationship. Despite the conflicts and arguments that Mr. Solchuck had, he still cannot see Nick’s perspective and remains indifferent. Numerous years after Nick has moved out, Mr. Solchuck feels that Nick is still “[tampering] with God’s Earth” and continues to believe that “[the Earth] is flat”.