Communication In The Father And The Rehearsal

Both short stories, The Father and The Rehearsal effectively show how poor communication between the parent and the child strains the relationship. The two stories have strong similarities and minor differences in the way the issue is presented. In both pieces the fathers similarly don’t understand how they make their sons feel and when it’s necessary to give them space. A quote to represent this from The Father would be “Leave me alone, daddy please! The boy cried, breaking away from him and running down the street.” The Rehearsal proves this point when the father says “There’s probably no rehearsal tonight, Bradley’s father said interrupting the silence. Bradley was annoyed at the comment but his father could not tell.” John from The Father mortified his son in front of his

Evidence from The Father and The Rehearsal to support this statement would be “Yes, but after you bought him the hockey pads and the rifle last Christmas he was afraid to ask you for anything else.” And “You’re late. Sorry dad. Did you get very wet? Not too wet. How was the rehearsal? O.K. Silence.” The reluctance from the sons to have legitimate conversations with their fathers add towards the barrier forming between the two. This might be due to the cold demeanors both fathers seem to possess. However, the father from The Father knows close to nothing about his son while the father from The Rehearsal seems to care too much. This point is proven through the quotes “He realized he didn’t even know what position his own son played or even the name of the team” from The Father and “Ten o’ clock, Bradley? The question annoyed Bradley for he knew his father knew the answer” from The Rehearsal. The first quote shows how little the father knows about his twelve-year-old son, who lives in the same house as him. The second quote displays that the father does know the basics about his