The Narrator’s Father Character Analysis in Old School

The narrator’s father never appears in the story directly—and because the narrator tries to hide the details of his family life, he doesn’t reveal much about his father. The narrator does make oblique references to the fact that his father was devastated after the narrator’s mother died; that he and his father are quite distant from each other; and that his father is too affectionate for the narrator’s comfort. A year before starting at his New England prep school, the narrator also that his father has Jewish roots (though he was raised Episcopalian). Throughout the novel, he worries that this aspect of his identity will prevent him from fitting in with his classmates.

The Narrator’s Father Quotes in Old School

The Old School quotes below are all either spoken by The Narrator’s Father or refer to The Narrator’s Father . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

).

I simply decided that it would be better not to use the Jewish defense. There was no obvious reason for being cagey. In my short time at the school I’d seen no bullying or manifest contempt of that kind, and never did. Yet it seemed to me that the Jewish boys, even the popular ones, even the athletes, had a subtly charged field around them, an air of apartness.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), The Narrator’s Father , Gershon

Page Number and Citation: 24

Explanation and Analysis:

I thought writing should give me pleasure, and generally it did. But I didn’t enjoy writing this poem. I did it almost grudgingly, yet in a kind of heat too. Maybe it was good, maybe not. Maybe it wasn’t even a poem, only a fragment of a story in broken lines. I couldn’t tell. It was too close to home. It was home: my mother gone; my father, though no fireman, wounded by my disregard as I was appalled by his need; the mess, the noise, the smells, all of it just like our place on a Saturday morning; the sense of time dying drop by drop, of stalled purpose and the close, aquarium atmosphere of confinement and repetition. I could hear and see everything in that apartment, right down to the pattern in the Formica tabletop. I could see myself there, and didn’t want to. Even more, I didn’t want anyone else to.

I submitted the elk-hunter poem. “Red Snow,” I called it.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), The Narrator’s Father , The Narrator’s Mother

Page Number and Citation: 36

Explanation and Analysis:

The Narrator’s Father Quotes in Old School

The Old School quotes below are all either spoken by The Narrator’s Father or refer to The Narrator’s Father . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

).

I simply decided that it would be better not to use the Jewish defense. There was no obvious reason for being cagey. In my short time at the school I’d seen no bullying or manifest contempt of that kind, and never did. Yet it seemed to me that the Jewish boys, even the popular ones, even the athletes, had a subtly charged field around them, an air of apartness.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), The Narrator’s Father , Gershon

Page Number and Citation: 24

Explanation and Analysis:

I thought writing should give me pleasure, and generally it did. But I didn’t enjoy writing this poem. I did it almost grudgingly, yet in a kind of heat too. Maybe it was good, maybe not. Maybe it wasn’t even a poem, only a fragment of a story in broken lines. I couldn’t tell. It was too close to home. It was home: my mother gone; my father, though no fireman, wounded by my disregard as I was appalled by his need; the mess, the noise, the smells, all of it just like our place on a Saturday morning; the sense of time dying drop by drop, of stalled purpose and the close, aquarium atmosphere of confinement and repetition. I could hear and see everything in that apartment, right down to the pattern in the Formica tabletop. I could see myself there, and didn’t want to. Even more, I didn’t want anyone else to.

I submitted the elk-hunter poem. “Red Snow,” I called it.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), The Narrator’s Father , The Narrator’s Mother

Page Number and Citation: 36

Explanation and Analysis: