Willem’s Father Character Analysis

Willem’s father was an Icelandic immigrant. He worked as a ranch hand in Wyoming all Willem’s life and died before the novel’s present day, when Willem was still in college. Willem’s father is humble and hardworking, and he passed down these traits to Willem. Willem’s father and Willem’s mother suffered many tragedies: two of their children died in childhood, and Hemming, Willem’s older brother, was born with a severe form of cerebral palsy that left him confined to a wheelchair, nonverbal, and unable to care for himself. Willem’s parents’ hard life made them aloof and practical, and it always pained Willem to see them treat Hemming as a responsibility rather than a child to love. When Hemming is dying, presumably of cancer, Willem’s father’s distant, unfeeling attitude toward Hemming’s illness prompts Willem to lash out at him for the first time in his life. Willem cuts off contact with his parents following Hemming’s death. After they die, he realizes how much he loved them, even if they couldn’t show it.