IT’S Father’s Day and what better way to commemorate this occasion than to celebrate dads in all forms — the good, the bad and the murderous? Okay – I’m talking about fictional daddies out there who have touched our hearts, made us laugh, cry, roll our eyes or even got us looking behind our shoulders and keeping our room lights on at night?
Being a dad isn’t easy. You’re not just a mere contributor to the gene pool but more than that, you’re the first man in your child’s life. The person your daughter or son would take their own adult cues from. Literature is awash with fathers who come from a broad spectrum ranging from wonderful fathers, pretty terrible fathers and all those dads who fall somewhere in between.
Some you’d do well to base your own parenting skills on, others, well, let’s just say you should note what they did – or didn’t do – and then do the opposite. So, without further ado, please find literature’s four most memorable fathers and foster fathers!
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Author: Harper Lee
Daddy in question: Atticus Finch
Atticus, is a small-town lawyer and father to Jeremy “Jem” Finch and Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. Author Harper Lee based the character on her own father, Amasa Coleman Lee, an Alabama lawyer who, like Atticus, represented black defendants in a highly publicised criminal trial. Arguably fiction’s greatest father, Atticus parents his children with a calm approachable demeanour. For a man living in the 1930s, he is progressive. He’s against spanking, never yells and gives his children truthful answers to difficult questions. Most intriguingly, his parenting philosophy forms the plot of the novel, where he models the behaviour he wants to see in his children.
That’s why he takes on the case at the heart of the story, the defence of a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman. Scout tells Atticus that most people in the town think it’s wrong to defend the accused man. But Atticus explains that “they’re entitled to full respect for their opinions. But before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.” If he didn’t take the case, Atticus tells Scout, “I could never ask you to mind me again.”
Dad points: 100/100 (If you’d disregard Lee’s sequel Set The Watchman that shows the darker side of Finch)
THE SHINING
Author: Stephen King
Daddy in question: Jack Torrance
Jack Torrance is a frustrated writer who goes with his wife and son to spend the winter in the isolated Overlook Hotel in an attempt to get the novel he has always wanted to write started. Employed as the caretaker of hotel, Jack moves his wife, Wendy, and their son Danny into it for the season, hoping to find peace: to finish his writing project, to escape his latent alcoholism, and to stitch his fractured family unit together.
But the hotel's grisly past and unquiet ghosts have their way with him, and his wife Wendy eventually finds that the manuscript he has been working on actually only contains the phrase "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", typed over and over again. Jack appears to go insane, pushed into fantasy – or hallucination. Eventually, he attacks his family, attempting to kill them in a twisted mirroring of the awful events that, it transpires, occurred in the hotel's past.
Dad points: 2/100 (2 points for trying to quit alcohol and patch up his family. No points for attempting to off them – insane or otherwise!)
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES
Author: LM Montgomery
Daddy in question: Matthew Cuthbert
Anne is the story of an orphaned, red-headed, freckled, 11-year-old girl who's been sent to the Green Gables farm in Avonlea by mistake. Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, the elderly brother and sister who own the place, wanted a boy orphan to help with the chores, but eager, imaginative, drama-queen Anne makes such an impression on shy old bachelor Matthew — shown in the original illustrations as a dubious cross between Santa Claus and a tramp — that he wants her to stay, and tart, stern Marilla comes around to his way of thinking. While he leaves most of the child-raising to his sister, he constantly advocates for Anne and seizes every opportunity to spoil her.
When they adopt Anne, Marilla makes him promise not to interfere with the raising of the child. But he becomes increasingly involved in parental duties especially when he feels Marilla is treating her too harshly. Anne and Matthew instantly understand one another, and Anne listens to Matthew when no one else’s arguments can sway her. She recognises him as a “kindred spirit” and confides in him when she wants a sympathetic ear. In contrast to Marilla’s severity and difficulty in expressing emotions, Matthew exhibits motherly qualities. He openly tells Anne of his affection for her and pride in her. Gentler than Marilla, Matthew treats Anne with unflagging kindness.
His death—from a heart attack—is a lesson to Anne and readers that sadness can come at any time, in the most low-key and everyday ways. “Matthew who had walked with her last evening at sunset,” Anne reflects in the book, “was now lying in the dim room below with that awful peace on his brow.”
Dad points: 70/100 (Minus 30 points for dying and making me cry while reading the book)
HARRY POTTER SERIES
Author: JK Rowling
Daddy in question: Vernon Dursley
Vernon Dursley is the husband of Harry Potter’s maternal aunt Petunia. Like her, he is very much a Muggle (non-magical people). He has no use for imagination at all. He is a large, beefy man with very little neck and a bushy black moustache. Vernon Dursley considers it a good morning if he’s yelled at a few people. He is the director of Grunnings, a firm that makes drills.
Vernon refers to his wizard brother-in-law James Potter as “good-for-nothing”. He and Potter had nothing in common, and Vernon never really understood that James wasn’t joking about flying on a broom or having a vault full of gold. He is a narrow minded and often cruel man. He despises having Harry under his roof and rarely misses a chance to belittle him. Vernon is fearful of the magical world and considers Harry's wizarding abilities an abnormality that must be suppressed and concealed. He considers Harry something to be ignored, controlled or locked away; indeed his sister Marge’s dog “Ripper” was treated better than Harry!
Dad points: 5/100 (5 points for giving Harry a room to stay)