The relationship between father and son in
"The Stoat" is memorable because McGahern depicts them behaving as friends and equals,
building an apparently close relationship in the absence of the wife and mother who once
completed the family. Much of "The Stoat" consists of dialogue between father and son.
The father is in his late fifties and the son is presumably in his twenties (he is a medical
student, soon to qualify as a doctor), and they address each other more like brothers or close
friends than members of different generations, casually yet thoughtfully looking after each
other's needs:
"Id feel like a pint if I went down.
If you take a drink too early in this weather it makes the day very cumbersome to get
through.""Theres cheese and bread and a bit of salad. I could make
up sandwiches and have coffee.""Thatd be far better. Good man. Can
I give you a hand?""No. Stay where you are. Ill bring them
out."
When the father considers remarriage, he asks
the son's blessing, enquiring if he would "take it very much to heart" if he were to
marry again. The son's reply that he should do as he likes with his life seems to wound his
father, as though this comment is a disavowal of their closeness. These instances suggest that
the father and son depend on one another a great deal and have grown particularly close because
for some time the family has consisted only of the two of them. They seem so close that even the
statement that the father is free to do as he likes is a jarring note in the otherwise smooth
flow of their companionable conversation. The establishment of the relationship in these terms
increases the reader's surprise when it turns out that selfishness and the division between
person and person are major themes of the story and that none of the relationships between son,
father, and Miss McCabe, whom the father initially intends to marry, are as close as they first
appear.
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