Bruce is one of the worst father characters I've read about.

He yells and inflicts threats of violence on his children for breaking an ornament in his house or not properly putting up a Christmas tree. He gets into violent arguments with his wife for coming home late. He rarely expresses any form of love or attachment to his family. Honestly, he hardly acts like a father at all. Throughout the book, we learn about Bruce's past, which allowed us to piece together what may have caused him to be so absent from his family. Here's my take on it. Basically, Bruce's physical life was a socially-acceptable version of a life that aligns with his true interests. Decorating his house was a way of encoding and expressing his femininity. His love letters to his wife (girlfriend at the time) were reenactments of quotes/personalities of Fitzerald, who he was obsessed with. Further, his job as an English teacher gave him a formal justification for engaging with his favorite books. Meanwhile, the personal relationships that came along with his physical life–being a dad and a husband–were only public titles that were forced upon him and didn’t significantly influence his inner identity. Therefore, throughout his marriage, he prioritized his own interests over his family responsibilities, using his children as “free labor” for decorating his house and opening up to Allison only after she could entertain him with discussions about The Catcher and the Rye and The Odyssey. Also, he betrayed his responsibility as a husband by having affairs with young men, which probably was one of the reasons for coming home late.

In a more sympathetic view, Bruce and his family are the victims of the hatred and discrimination of their time period. To meet social expectations, Bruce had to hide his true sexual identity throughout his whole life, which would have made it difficult for him to genuinely embrace the marriage and family that came out of his more-or-less fake life. As a result, he lived a double life (between his affairs and family life) in a double identity (being "feminine"/bisexual and being a husband in a nuclear family) and failed to be fully present in either one of them.

Comments

  1. EleanorMarch 27, 2023 at 7:09 PM

    It's interesting that despite how terrible Bruce is portrayed throughout Alison's childhood she doesn't express much direct criticism of him. Through her drawings we can see her disappointment and longing for her attention but surprisingly Alison doesn't place much blame or resentment towards him. Furthermore, Alison feels supported by Bruce at the end of the novel when she compares herself to Icarus and Bruce to Daedalus ready to catch her if she falls.

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  2. TaehanApril 4, 2023 at 8:02 PM

    I think its very interesting the way that our perceptions of Bruce change throughout the novel. I like how you also wrote about the sympathetic aspects of Bruce, along with his more unfavorable aspects. I think this juxtaposition is the fundamental basis upon which Allison draws her connection with her father.

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  3. Cameron McGillApril 20, 2023 at 2:53 PM

    I found it interesting that despite how much of a horrible person Bruce was Alison still dearly wants to believe they are connected even after his death. She even goes so far as to mention that on some weird level she hopes his death was a suicide partially caused by their unconventional bond as it would give them some sort of connection when Bruce is six feet under. It's somewhat understandable as he's the closest Alison will ever have to a father figure and they certainly did share some happy moments together, but I'm unsure I'd be able to forgive him at all for the atrocities he's committed if I were in Alison's shoes. Nice blog.

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  4. Anna WilliamsApril 28, 2023 at 8:35 AM

    I've always heard that there's a difference between an excuse and a reason. An excuse is something that can be used to shift blame, or avoid the subject and be forgiven. But a reason is just an explanation for something, without looking to explain it away. I think that Bruce's extreme repression of his identity is never an excuse for how he treats people, but it is definitely a reason. It doesn't mean that he should be immediately forgiven, but that we have more background as to why he is the way he is.

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