The short story “The Splinter” is written by Ron Carlson in 2018. The story follows a father and his son Rick. Rick and his father are invited to a camping trip by the fathers boss, known as Damon and also Damon's girlfriend, Veronica. During the trip the characters realise that Rick has a limp, but Rick will not let his father or the others take a look at his foot. The father had recently lost his wife, and Rick his mother. To deal with the loss of his wife, he makes Rick do a lot of activities in neglect of their loss. Rick lets Damon take a look at his foot, after having opposed anyone wanting to take a look. It is noticed that Rick has a splinter, which eventually leads to Rick letting his father take control. The father takes a look at his son's foot and is finally given permission by Rick to take the splinter out.
The Splinter
Rick is a fifth grader who had just recently lost his mother. He seems to be an unproblematic child who is truly just heartbroken, but still tries to enjoy the camping trip, despite the impact that his mothers death has had on his life. Rick's Father (The narrator) is a single parent who is dealing with the loss of his beloved wife, Amelia. The story mainly focuses on the relationship between Rick and the narrator. They are both grieving Amelia's death, where I believe that the situation that they are in has distanced them. Through the short story, they do not have a so-called normal dad and son relationship, but rather they are just familiar with each other. This changes towards the ending of the story. “Dad,” he said, “I’m sorry. I got scared. I’m scared.”, “Does it hurt?”, “You can look,” he said. It was like a gift.”
Det er gratis at oprette en konto