The Communist By Richard Ford Analysis

Analysis of The Communist by Richard Ford There are consequences to growing up before you’re ready. Many of us are allotted eighteen years, or more if we’re lucky, to bask in the bliss of childhood and innocence. For others, life catches them in its constricting grasp far too early. Such is the case of sixteen-year-old Les of Richard Ford’s “The Communist.” In this short story, Ford uses a specific memory of young Les in which he finds many similarities between Glen Baxter, a self-proclaimed communist, and his deceased father. But more interestingly, we begin to also see many similarities between Les and his mother. The story begins with Glen returning from a long absence. Les is surprised to find his mother less than enthusiastic about

One passage in particular stands out:

“It was a strange time in her life then and after that, a time when she had to adjust to being an adult just when she was on the thin edge of things. Too much awareness too early in life was her problem, I think. And what I felt was only that I had somehow been pushed out into the world, into the real life then, the one I hadn’t lived yet.” (Ford 292)

Though this passage has a nearly impossible to miss relation between Les and his mother, there is a slight subtlety that seems to throw readers off. This is due to the way in which Les almost dissociates his mother’s situation from his own feelings by applying the label of “problem” to his mother while using more validating language to describe his exact same plight. The narration begins to come to a close with a gentle conversation between Les and his mother. Though, at the closing he notes that he and his mother never spoke in such a way again. Ford leaves the ending between Les and his mother quite ambiguous. Noting that Les had not heard his mother’s voice in some time, but not quite stating if it were due to discourse or