Sons and fathers are an intriguing relationship rarely portrayed with the same sentiments as that of mother and son or mother and child. While the world readily accepts the bond between the latter, the relationship of the father to his son is as diverse as it is enigmatic. The fact that the father does not bear his son in the womb and is not tied up biologically with the umbilical chord with the father is absolutely paradoxical to the intense connection he feels with his son. He looks at his son as his miniature self and the son looks up to the father as the mentor and guide in life.
The strong bond between father and son is emphatically illustrated by Alexie Sherman in the movie Smoke Signals.
Arnold, the father of Victor Joseph has been portrayed as one who has been irresponsible to his duties as the man of the house and caretaker of his child. His alcoholism has given Victor the son, unpleasant memories of his father. But despite these bitter memories Victor’s respect for his father is evident in the movie as Sherman proves it by showing that the boy is actually making the long journey only to collect the ashes of his dead father. He has proved the deep connection of a father and son relationship in Smoke signals.
The other boy, Thomas Builds has been rescued as a baby by Arnold when his house and parents were gutted in fire.
So Thomas holds Arnold in high esteem and reveres him as a hero. His real son Victor on the other hand reveals a hatred for his father because of his own harsh experience with him. Therefore Arnold, the very same person evokes dual feelings in the two boys as they both perceive him in their own ways and judge him in two different paradigms.
Alexie Sherman indicates “An angry young Indian whose white father beat him up and who now lashes up against all white men” in The Killer that the father and son relationship is directly proportional to each other in the sense that a good relationship of support and guidance by a caring and responsible father gives rise to a son who is equally or more refined as a person in society, family and vice versa. The father has an impact on the son as the son sees himself in the father as he grows up into manhood.
The failures and success of his father govern the fate of the son in his subconscious mind.
Alexie Sherman reminds the world about this strong bond of deep-rooted relationships in side a human being. The yearning for a child to be close to his roots, his origin and the desperation he feels when he is away from it. In the Killer Alexie does not express a picture of a father son direct relationship but does show that the father is one significant person in the life of every little boy growing up to be a young man and then an adult in society. A happy relationship nurtures a good hearted balanced son while a father who has been harsh to the children and negligent to their needs breeds negative emotions in his children especially his son who looks up to him as a role model, an icon of life.
Howard Spring exhibits that a father lives his ambitions and desires in the life of his son in My Son My Son. He fulfills his own wishes by showering his son with all the things he did not have himself but this too leads to a wrong upbringing of a son. Spring echoes the significant effect that a father has on his son in My Son My Son.
Relationship between father and son is not just strong but deeper than the physics and chemistry of the mind. A father is the root cause of birth of the son and somewhere the son cannot disentangle himself from the genetic, emotional and social ties he has with his father. The father’s presence means much to him, his behavior moulds the personality of the son and his character builds values in the little man he has fathered. The relationship is an unseen bond that lasts longer than the life of each. Memories of childhood, time spent with the father, the picture of the father as head of the family, the provider of needs to his children and wife re-enforces emotional well being in the growing son.
Alexie Sherman tells the story of the relationship between a father and his son in The Smoke Signals. The relationship changes as time goes by and as Victor begins to understand the reasons behind his father’s behavior. The level of maturity level in the two boys is reflected in their relationships. Their reactions to the man they are making the long journey for, who is dead and gone.
McCullough Colleen portrays a similar relationship between father and son in The Thorn Birds. The son who has expectations from his father but who is thoroughly dejected to find out that the father he calls his own is not his real father. The fact that Frank cannot digest this bitter truth and runs away, tells a lot about what a father means to a son.
Alexie Sherman shows the intricacies of childhood and father son relationships in his book The Killer. He convinces that father and son relationship is a complicated relationship in his movie The Smoke Signals.
The relationship between father and son is that of a reflection and mirror. A relationship of love and hate. A relationship of great expectations from either of them to each other. It is a parallel relationship of character and personality. The story of success or failure of the son because of his father and the father due to his son. A symbiotic bond that matures with time. The relationship grows into an understanding and finally ceases to give the traumatic pangs it once had to the son as a child. He learns to forgive and forget the past and renews his inborn ties with his father who might be no more.
The son lives in the father and the father lives in his son.
No matter what the world says to the son, the son always looks up to his father for recognition and appreciation in life. A masculine support when the son needs it gives him emotional nourishment like no other.
A happy supportive relationship between father and son carves out a future of ultimate success for a son who becomes the Ayers Rock for his family and the future generations. Relationship of father and son is but a reflection of each other.
Works Cited
Alexie, Sherman. “Indian Killer”. Grove Press, 2008.
Alexie, Sherman. “Smoke Signals”. Movie.
Alexie, Sherman. “The Killer”. Grove Atlantic.
29 November 2008. <http://books.google.com/books?>
Bookmark: 29 November 2008.
<http://www.salonmagazine.com/sneaks/sneakpeeks.html>
Mc McCullough, Colleen. “The Thorn Birds”. Harper
Collins, 1977.
Mc McCullough, Colleen. “The Thorn Birds”. Avon; 1st ed. 1979.
Spring, Howard. “My Son My Son”. 1940.
29 November 2008.
<http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3575553536/ttoo32831
