Family is often a soft spot for many. They are the closest to you and should therefore know you the best. But that is not always a given; numerous family dynamics are toxic and unforgiving, and a great deal of family relationships, are broken. The difference is often how and, sometimes, who has caused it. In the short story “Father and Son” written by the Northern Irish author Bernard MacLaverty in 1978, he puts that very scenario in perspective.
In this short story we meet a widowed father and his son. They are constantly in disagreement, mainly caused by the fathers worries and the son’s disapproval of him. The father is desperate for the son to talk to him about his troubles, but the son is angry and hateful towards him. He believes that his father is scarred of everything and is being a coward. The son has formerly have had an addiction, but he does not acknowledge it. In the end, the son is fatally shot, and for the first time the father can hold his son in his arms without the son resisting his love and comfort.
The short story takes place in the capitol of Northern Ireland, Belfast. At this point in time, Belfast is a very dangerous place to be, with a high murder rate and constant fighting between the Catholic’s and the protestant’s in a conflict known as The Troubles. The conflict was based on the Northern Ireland’s choice to become a part of The Republic Ireland or the become a part of The Great Britain. Belfast was the centre and was a big part of the crisis which is also described in the short story: “I do not sleep. My father does not sleep. The sound of ambulances criss-crosses the dark. I sleep with the daylight. It is safe” (p. 113, ll. 20-22).
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