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Mr. Howard
Jack’s biological father, an aeronautical engineer who lives in Connecticut with his new wife. Jack’s father seems to make a lot of promises he can’t keep—most notably, towards the end of the text, he offers to spend the summer in La Jolla with his sons, but suffers a breakdown just a few days into the vacation and is forced to go to sanatorium.
Mr. Wolff Quotes in This Boy’s Life
The This Boy’s Life quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Wolff or refer to Mr. Wolff. 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:
).
Chapter 13
Quotes
I also missed my father. My mother never complained to me about him, but sometimes Dwight would make sarcastic comments about Daddy Warbucks and lord High-and-Mighty. He meant to impugn my father for being rich and living far away and having nothing to do with me, but all these qualities, even the last, perhaps especially the last, made my father fascinating. He had the advantage always enjoyed by the inconstant parent, of not being there to be found imperfect. I could see him as I wanted to see him. I could give him sterling qualities and imagine good reasons, even romantic reasons, why he had taken no interest, why he had never written to me, why he seemed to have forgotten I existed. I made excuses for him long after I should have known better.
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Mr. Wolff Quotes in This Boy’s Life
The This Boy’s Life quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Wolff or refer to Mr. Wolff. 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:
).
Chapter 13
Quotes
I also missed my father. My mother never complained to me about him, but sometimes Dwight would make sarcastic comments about Daddy Warbucks and lord High-and-Mighty. He meant to impugn my father for being rich and living far away and having nothing to do with me, but all these qualities, even the last, perhaps especially the last, made my father fascinating. He had the advantage always enjoyed by the inconstant parent, of not being there to be found imperfect. I could see him as I wanted to see him. I could give him sterling qualities and imagine good reasons, even romantic reasons, why he had taken no interest, why he had never written to me, why he seemed to have forgotten I existed. I made excuses for him long after I should have known better.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
