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  • Essay / The story of a father and son's first meeting in Reunion, a short story by John Cheever

    Reunion by: John Cheever is a short story about a boy who meets his father for the first time in three years old, only to discover that he is a foul-mouthed, loud drunk rather than the parental figure Charlie was hoping to reconnect with. The father's actions are initially humorous, but as Charlie, the narrator, withdraws from commenting on events and simply reports his father's increasingly outrageous actions, his sadness at the grotesque way his father acts is clear. This mixture of humor and pathos, both stemming from the father's grotesque rudeness, makes it very clear why this was the last time the narrator, Charlie, saw his father. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an original essay The story is primarily composed of an almost third-person description of a quest for lunch that lasts less than two hours during which Charlie desperately hopes to reconnect with his estranged father. "As soon as Charlie sees his father, he feels that he was Charlie's father, his flesh and blood, his future and his destiny." Although he hasn't seen his father in three years, Charlie immediately feels a strong emotional connection to him, as one would with a parental figure. On his father, he smells "a rich compound of whiskey, aftershave, shoe polish, wool and the hardness of a mature male." He is intrigued by all aspects of his father and absorbs him "the same way his mother sniffs a rose." This opening uses grotesque elements to provide an uncomfortably accurate description of his father, showing how Charlie understands everything about him and mentally builds him up as a new hero before showing his true colors as an obnoxious alcoholic. While sitting in a restaurant, the father shouts, "Could we have a little service here... Chop-Chop." » to the waiter, who is embarrassed by the father's rude manners. The father responds to this uneasiness by saying: “I should have brought my whistle… I have a whistle that is only audible to the ears of the old waiters.” This exchange uses grotesque elements to create humor by showing an exchange in which the father is so rude that it is almost caricatured even though it is a situation in which the reader would not personally want to be involved. find. This happens again in three different restaurants with the father. continuing to elicit a visceral reaction from the servers present by taunting and intimidating them. The father never offers his son the promised lunch, as he instead becomes increasingly drunk and belligerent towards those who would serve him, which ultimately prompts his son to leave. him when they return to Grand Central Station, overwhelmed with sadness.