The author, Timothy Findley does a great job of making references to the term war in the story. The son, Neil is having trouble with his Dad leaving to join the army and not telling him, so he hides from his Dad in a barn. Neil is hiding behind hay and other farm accessories to put up shields from his father. In the story it refers to his hiding place as being like a trench in the war. Timothy says this because he is comparing Neil's spot to the environment his father will be, when he is in the army. This could be a stretch but as the reader the idea that the boy is trying to simulate the situation his father would be in to scare him. This is very possible because if his father really realized what war will be like it could scare him and make him not want to go. This is also possible because Neil is trying to thing of any plan he could to try and stop his dad from leaving. The ideas that Neil is coming up with are a little off the wall because he thought hiding would stop his Dad from leaving, so this could be another one of his plans.
The reader of this story can tell right at the end of the story when Neil is throwing rocks at his father, that the situation seem out of the ordinary. This is an error in this story because it becomes obvious that the reaction his father has is different because a father does not normally just let their son throw rocks at them. In the 1940's things were not exactly how they are now, parents would not let things go without giving a punishment. Everyone has heard a few stories about kids getting hit when they were growing up, so it does not sound right that the father would not do anything especially when the time is taken into mind. This is a main point in the novel and it hurts the novel because it takes away some credibility away from the novel and makes it seem less life like. This was the only flaw with this novel and other than that problem it was a good story.
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