Bible by Tobias Wolff - Book Report/Review Example

Research Enhanced Interpretation of a Short Story In my opinion, ‘Bible’ by Tobias Wolff is a partly sad and partly sarcastic depiction of parent – child relationship. It presents three different parent – child couples: Maureen and her mother, Maureen and her daughter Grace, and last but not least, young Hassan and his self-delusional father. Similarly to Maureen, Hassan’s father dreams of a better future for his son. In fact, both of them try to determine their children to lead the lives they never got to achieve. But neither Hassan, nor Grace is able to make their parents’ dreams come true; and they do not want to. Just like Grace dropped college in order to continue an affair with a married man, who was also much older than her, Hassan is a lazy, spoiled child who achieves his goals by cheating. Neither of them is able to accomplish the daring dreams of their parents. Although a character like Maureen would never admit it, she is pretty much similar to Hassan’s father, as she always tried to influence her daughter’s destiny and lead her to the ‘right path’, ignoring the child’s real wishes and intentions. Nonetheless, she has the wisdom to ultimately accept her daughter’s decisions. On the other hand, there is an interesting parent – child relation between Maureen and her old mother. Maureen hates all the similarities between her mother and herself, and is extremely jealous of her mother’s close relationship to her granddaughter. On her turn, her mother is obviously enjoying the fact that she was preferred to Maureen, and obviously never misses an opportunity to lecture her daughter. Therefore, due to unrealistic expectations and hurt feelings, each of these relationships is a living failure. Besides, there is a broader parent – child relationship generated by Maureen’s profession as a teacher, and her connection to each of her students – as it is obvious that her indulgence for Hassan’s idleness and lies is somewhat motherly – until the day she catches him cheating on the exam. Then, she decides to adopt a different attitude, by punishing him. Nando Pelusi says in the article ‘Parents and Children in Conflict’, published on the website Psychology Today: ‘I always suspected that my father had it in for me. My dad was a brilliant showman and comedian who turned angry and intolerant around me. Perhaps our most authentic exchange occurred when, as an adult, I finally confronted him about his feelings toward me. He admitted that he thought that his new opportunities had been quashed by parenthood. Harsh? Sure. But honest, too. The fact is my fathers ambivalence about me is not so uncommon.’ (Nando Pelusi, ‘Parents and Children in Conflict’, www.psychologytoday.com). Similarly, Hassan’s father gave up all his career ideals, his opportunity to work as a medical doctor, although he was trained to be one, and chose an unfulfilling life: sacrifices that cannot be avoided once he adopted the status of a parent. Therefore, the idea that his son Hassan would be a medical doctor was the compensation he yearned for and the support he needed in order to carry on. Maureen, on her turn, is an interesting combination of cowardice and sudden bravery. She lost the ones she loved – her husband, her daughter – either due to her excessive cowardice, or due to her straightforwardness. Actually, the whole situation is ridiculous, as she gets kidnapped by a fellow who does not even touch her, and she is ready and willing to give him all her money before really looking at him and noticing his ‘thin hands’. Although having studied self-defense moves, she is unable to act. Similarly, the story says that she had allowed her sisters to push her around, that she did nothing to discipline her daughter in due time, and she felt unable to fight with her husband’s gambling addiction until they faced ruin. As the story says: ‘She hated calling people on their offenses; her own raised voice and shaking hands, her heart pumping out righteousness, all the rituals of grievance and reproach were distasteful to her, and had always held her back, up to a point.’ Nonetheless, once she reached that point, she finds a sudden boldness and honesty that are shocking to her opponent. And they are shocking to the reader as well. If, in the beginning, she is ready and willing to give up everything – her car, her belongings, the contents of her credit card – in order to be left alone and to get away safely, after she discovers the kidnapper’s real identity and self-delusions, after she faces his complains and accusations, her reaction is sharp and unexpected. She is merciless in resuming the situation, in forcing the father to confront the real personality of his son, in offering him a real image. Perhaps, it is her way of expressing her own frustrations as a discontented mother. The third thing to play a major – though subtle – influence in the story is that of the religion. Maureen teaches at Saint Ignatius, a Catholic school, although she is not a Catholic. Another teacher at the same school has the nerve to start an affair with a teenager, one of his own students and his colleague’s daughter. The affair goes on and on, as the young girl drops college – and thus, the opportunity of a better life, the opportunity her mother had struggled for, and finally, as the man gets fired by the Head of the Catholic school, the young girl’s interest in him suddenly fades. The kidnapper also preaches a lot and reacts exaggeratedly whenever he hears Maureen swearing, but he does not mind, on his turn, kidnapping a defenseless woman. Therefore, just like God and the Bible, Catholicism is presented by the author as the perfect excuse for gross hypocrisy. ‘Would it be fair to assume that there is a lot more ‘hypocrisy’ from the ‘religious’ than we care to acknowledge? In other words, those that call themselves ‘religious’ are only ‘religious’ in name, and not in deed?’ author Marlyn Lopes wonders in her article “Hypocrisy in Religion.” Therefore, the Bible-bearer, Hassan’s father, although constantly lecturing Maureen, is solving his problems by harassing her – at least verbally, as he is finally unable to inflict any physical pain on her – in an attempt to persuade her not to report his son. Ironically, he fails to see that his desperate deed was a greater sin that her drinking a beer or cursing when kidnapped. Then, there is an unexpected turn of events, as the man leaves, and we start pitying him along with Maureen. His final description stirs compassion: ‘She watched him make his way down the street, a short man, hatless, his bright, puffy coat billowing with the gusts.’ Although the author does not say it, we almost feel Maureen’s pity. And then, there is another significant gesture. He leaves her the Bible. And the object initiates a completely different story, a whole new subject: the memory of an old and beloved friend, who has lost or thrown away the morally valuable object. The author provides no explanation – the only thing we are left to wonder about is what happened to the Bible’s previous owner Clara Gutierrez. And thus, the Bible’s role changes from an instrument of hypocrisy to one of a mysterious revelation. A divine revelation, as we all know, is never an accurate or a rational one. Works Cited Lopes, Marlyn. Hypocrisy in Religion. www.associatedcontent.com Pelusi, Nando. Parents and Children in Conflict. www.psychologytoday.com Wolff, Tobias. Bible. www.atlantic.com Read More