Along the Frontage Road Free Essay Example, 1000 words

It became to him the baby sister whose funeral awaited them back at their house. The narrator was trying to escape from this loss however, his son Nicky tried to fill his own void by remembering his small sister Kate through that small shriveled up pumpkin, which he had found from the patch. Nicky had obviously associated the small pumpkin, which he had picked up from the patch as his own small sister who had passed away. He felt insanely protective about that pumpkin and therefore he felt that they should not cut the pumpkin for Halloween. The pain of his sudden loss was still freshly engraved in his mind therefore; he did not want to harm the pumpkin. He associated this small harmless pumpkin with his own sister. He wanted to recover the loss that he had experienced earlier in his life. This was the reason that he felt strangely protective about this pumpkin. This was the exact reason why Nicky did not want to cut open the pumpkin and he was also very upset at the thought of cutting it open. We will write a custom essay sample on Along the Frontage Road or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now Andre’s function in the story is to make the narrator realize the feelings and grieving of his own son. Often it so happens that parents do not realize the feelings of their own children. This is because of the closeness to them. The closeness blurs the vision of the parents and the fail to realize the perspective of their own children. However when they see the same treatment being carried out by someone else to their children they realize their mistake. This is because the distance gives them the perspective to think about the situation rationally. Andre serves the same function in this story. It is when Andrà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s father starts misbehaving and mistreating with him only then does the narrator realize that he too was being unnecessary harsh on Nicky for forcing him to cut open that small pumpkin. The narrator had forgotten that although Nicky was small child he too had feelings. He too understood the matters relating to life and death. In the end Chabon seems to be telling that often parents do not understand their own children. They are so much engrossed in their own thoughts that they fail to grasp and think about what their children might be thinking. This was the case, which had happened with narrator and his son Nicky. He was so engrossed with his own grief that he failed to realize that that much had this incident traumatized his small son. To face the death of his sister at such a tender age is very painful. Therefore when the narrator finally allowed his son to name the pumpkin Kate, Nicky replied that he wanted Kate to have the pumpkin because she could not even live.