Short Story 'The Chair' By David Means

In the short story “The Chair” by David Means, a father who tries to discipline his son faces the hardships of raising a child; going through daily paternal emotions questions his capability to act as a manly figure toward his son and his ability to guide him in order to become a properly disciplined child. The father and son reach a small stumble in the story, as the son runs toward a wall that is potentially dangerous for his well-being. This wall has a deeper meaning embedded in it, as it acts as a mental barrier that the father has in his life. To begin with, Bob is a stay-at-home dad who tries to teach his son Gunner the proper norms of being a virtuous person in the future. In doing so, Bob always questions the way he approaches the situation. He is never confident in the way that he guides his son because throughout the passage he uses interjections which show that not only does he think about what he thinks, he also thinks about what he might think in the future about what he

Bob loves his son to the extent that he is not ready to let him go to the “other side” and he does not feel ready to let Gunner out into the real world. As a result, I think that Gunner running from Bob and not listening to him symbolizes that he does not have a lot of authority over his son and he can easily give his father a hard time. On one side of the wall Gunner can feel protected and safe, while on the other side of the wall, he is able to experiment with the outside world; however, he can not do so because his father continues to try to teach him and prepare him for when he is ready to leave the house, therefore he wants his son to have enough values that he can carry with him in the future: “..I’d feel, ahead, the future in one form or another, without which I could not endure the