Analyse af Mark Sloukas novelle 'Crossing'

It is important in every family, for the parents to have a good strong bond with their kids, so that they can have a positive impact on them. But the reason why a parent has such an impact on their child is because of trust. A relationship build up on trust is the strongest kind and every parent wish to achieve this bond with their child. This kind of relationship is the one that the father, in the short story “Crossing” written by Mark Slouka in 2009, is trying to build with his little son.

The main character of the short story is a father, approximately middle-aged, who got divorced from his wife. The story does not directly tell the reader that they are divorced, but it is implied in the way it was written when he goes to the ex-wife’s house, with this description; ”He sat in the driveway for a while looking at the yard, the azaleas he’s planted (…) For a long time he hadn’t wanted her back, hadn’t wanted much of anything, really. He went inside, wiping his shoes and ducking his head like a visitor.” (l. 13). You can tell, that he is acquainted with the house, and it is emphasized, that he walked into the house as a visitor. It seems that he is a dad that got very separated and detached to his family, due to the divorce and it has affected him in a negative way, which we get to know by the line; “he hadn’t been happy in a while”(l. 5). This could indicate a depression. But the one thing that makes him happy is his son. He has a hard time after the divorce, so he is trying to keep an unshakeable bond to his son. He does this by taking the son on a father-son trip out to the forest, something that the son wouldn’t do with his mother. The main character did this with his father as well, therefore he is trying to make it a ritual, so that they can maintain a good relationship.