A Father's Story Short Story

It is Luke’s fatherly love for his daughter that leads to his dilemma between pursuing the truth of doing what is just and right and demonstrating his love for his daughter. "A Father's Story," by Andre Dubus shares that the love of a father toward his own daughter means that he will protect her even if the process calls for him to misplace a part of himself. To protect his daughter, the father is forced to undergo challenges, a battle between his mind and his values. In the story, Luke Ripley, the protagonist, drops his core principles and ethical values deliberately to protect his daughter. I believe that the central conflict in "A Father's story" is a betrayal of a friend's trust and personal values and ethics for the sake of love, because

Those that he loved the most had abandoned him. The author demonstrates the beginning of this abandonment when he writes, “On Wednesday after Gloria left with the kids and a U-Haul trailer, I was sitting on the front steps, it was summer, and I was watching cars go by on the road” (Dubus 17). I believe this quote gives an active insight into the background as to why he makes the decisions that he does. He upholds Catholic doctrines and values in which he builds his faith and relationship with God. The main conflict in “A Father’s Story”, is a personal conflict. This is where the main character battles with thoughts against himself. Luke Ripley seems to be a satisfied man in his life, but he hates the weary drudgery associated with the life itself. Luke is standing with his faith. However, the faith he is standing with, endangers him, making his home confused. Luke says that he knows that trials are coming and that it is the faith that he upholds that is bringing him trials, “I knew that life would try me.” (Dubus 16). It seems he lost his family because of hate. Paul is trying to figure out the best way he could have tried to save the family. “A Father’s Story,” at different points, portrays Luke Ripley as the antagonist and the protagonist