Compass and Torch

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Compass and Torch – essay Elizabeth Baine´s short story ”Compass And Torch” is the perfect example of the son´s love to his father. In this short story, the father takes his son on a camping adventure in the mountains. The boy is thrilled to be with is father, and doing male things. This short story is a third person omniscient narrator that hasn’t given the main character any names, even though the inferior person in this short story has a name. This gives it a completely different twist, and makes sure that in this case we will think positive things of the inferior person. The boy is eight years old, and is a loving and carrying boy. He lives in a house with his mother and her new man, Jim. Even though Jim is awfully nice to the boy, the boy cant really go beyond his limits and bond with Jim, because he isn’t the boy’s biological father. This indicates that he lacks the love from his real father. The boy tries to live up to his fathers expectations, and has a strong bond to his father. Loyalty and being true to your closest is also an important element of the boys behaviour, he protects his father no matter what, and that is a crucial part of the boy´s mental state in this short story. The boy is naive and has high thoughts of his father, these thoughts are shown through the boys’ actions and delighted comments. The boy protects his father when his mother speaks badly of him. The young boy is naive and ignores the fathers lack of responsibility. This keeps the boys hope of becoming the idyllic father one day intact The relationship between the real father and his son is really controlled by expectations and the idyllic figure a father is to his son. We get the impression of the father´s lack of responsibility and capability of handling a child, through the mother’s comments on the father. The dad´s answers to the euphoric boy aren’t encouraging
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