Word: boys
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...boy changes his way of adapting to death, McElroy shifts the tone of the novel. The first chapters are a monologue, mirroring the isolation and entrapment that the protagonist feels. Later, McElroy inserts dialogue into the text, a change that reflects the boy's attempts to adjust to his father's death and to the dissemination of the letter...
...boy begins to shift his focus away from ownership of the letter, and he begins to directly confront his own relationship with his father. Part of him wishes to see it as a work of love: "If the letter is attention given to me, sending it out in all these copies is proof, or is giving my attention to those on the list," he says, trying to rationalize his mother's decision to share the letter...
Another part of the boy is tempted to view the letter as do his friends and relatives. They see it as a work of art as well as proof of love, and toss out comments like, "'Your father wrote extremely well,'" or "'You couldn't have had a better father.'" But the son of the writer is not content with this interpretation. His father becomes "the writer of the letter" rather than "his father...
...boy comes closer to understanding his father, he draws closer to his other family members as well. His mother is a constant but reticent presence throughout the book. Her character is sadly underdveloped, but the boy hints at the influence she has in his life, and at the important role that he, an only child, plays in hers...
...same time, however, the letter becomes a wall separating the boy from his mother. It is a gift that has been given him to unravel, and McElroy suggests that the boy cannot freely interact with others until he unravels the letter's past as well as its future...