Chabon's Werewolves In Their Youth

Chabon examines the concept of failed heroism or rather a false hope in an individual that reflects a faulty perception of one’s abilities when he or she dons a false identity to conceal weaknesses. The idea of the “disappointed optimist” appears again in a different context of Chabon’s life: optimism that is in fact the delusive faith in a hero who is ultimately powerless in saving an individual entangled in his or her own internal conflicts. In the short story, Werewolves in Their Youth, Chabon incorporates elements of failed marriages in order to reveal the larger issue or implication of false hope, connecting the two elements of heroism and marriage to portray the futility of overcoming conflicts through optimism. Paul, who struggles to

Furthermore, Chabon builds upon an extended metaphor of the antidote, a healing solution created from the works of Ant Man, given to Paul at the end of the story: “It was sweet and sharp tasting, and bitter through and through… after I got it down, I realized there must have been something else mixed into it - something that burned” (28). As he intakes the antidote to heal himself from the painful effects of his parents’ failing marriage, he initially tastes its sweetness, which symbolizes his contentment when his father returns home, reflecting a false hope that Ant Man’s return would ultimately resolve the tensions and conflicts of the broken marriage. Yet the taste of the antidote soon becomes “sharp” and “bitter”, when Paul realizes that Ant Man is ultimately powerless in reviving the marriage as he only returns to take his belongings with him and end the relationship with his mother (28). The final burning sensation portrays Paul’s utter disappointment after witnessing the downfall of his hero in saving Paul from the pains of family

By the end of the story, Paul realizes that his idolization of his father’s works and his false hope was a direct effect of Ant Man’s attempts to conceal his weakness and powerlessness to salvage the family’s unity. Although the father continues to accept his role as Paul’s hero and hides his weakness by fronting the unauthentic identity given by Paul, the final antidote marks the end of that idolized image of Ant Man, as Paul eventually regurgitates the antidote, symbolizing the rejection of the role of Ant Man. Paul is dependent on his father to resolve the internal struggles of loneliness and rejection through the restoration of familial unity, yet the father fails save his marriage due to his own weakness and incapability to reconcile with himself. Ultimately, the false hope which is built upon the inaccurate perception of the father is a consequence of both denial and false identity, which leads to the final collapse of the