Chapters 7-9

[Kendra Dorn]

The father of the three sons is portrayed as a belligerent jerk. His constant yelling and demanding creates high tensions and breaks within his relationships with Gerry and Ben especially. As the youngest, I would think Gerry would get off somewhat easy compared to his older brothers; however, I question why the father is so adamant in making Gerry work to his extreme. He is only five but the dad is making him do hard manual labor (page 34) and (as silly as it sounds) swim. Does this attitude reflect how the father feels towards Gerry being five and living on a boat for a year or is it due to the fact the mother died and he feels the need to “man up” Gerry because he has been babied too long?

[McKenna]

I think that it has a lot to do with how the mother treated Gerry before she died versus his relationship with the children. I think the the dad is trying to get rid of characteristics that remind him of his late wife. For example, since she couldn't swim either, the father forces Gerry to try to swim in order to make him less similar to his wife because it pains him to remember her.

[Olive Kelly]

I feel that Gerry's father is so mean to his sons because he is hostile about the mother's death and takes out his frustration on Ben, Dylan, and espicially Gerry. I think that the father knows that what he is asking of his sons is not really right, but is not capable of holding back his anger.

[Ashley Haynes]

I agree that the father feels like Gerry has been babied too much, but I also think he's just trying to be a be a father and doesn't quite know how. When a family loses one parent, the kids are dependent (admittedly or not) on the other parent to fill that void. The boys' dad probably realizes, to some degree, that the development of Gerry's character relies on him and the way he responds to difficult situations. Under that stress, the best solution he can reach is to "man up" the boys and make sure they can handle anything they may face.

[Trevor]

McKenna raised a unique point that I wanted to build on. I also agree that Dad's ruthless and borderline reckless behavior is a product of his attempt to distance himself from all qualities that are traceable to Christine. For example, Jim completely shatters the maternal love of Christine and substitutes his paternal aggressiveness. In essence, it seems as though Jim is trying to completely invert everything from his "past life" to create a "new life" that is fundamentally opposite.