This boy's life: a memoir

Boy's Life

Questions form This Boy's Life

Dwight is hard on Toby for several reasons, it seems. One of the primary reasons is his need to exert control over the people in his life, and both Toby and his mother make excellent targets for Dwight's anger and controlling attitude. His being tough on Toby is also a way for Dwight o make himself feel strong and powerful, which is related to his need for control but has a more visceral component. This is what he responds to when he sees Toby's fighting potential and his level of aggression -- it is something that Dwight recognizes in himself, and something he has no real outlet for except for abusing Toby and his mother.

After Rosemary marries Dwight, Toby's attitude towards her changes only slightly -- he still looks to her for protection and expects her to be able to get out of most situations, but he also seems to understand that there is a weakness on her part that allows if not forces her to get involved in these situations in the first place. It is this weakness that caused her to marry Dwight, and Toby begins to depend on his mother a bit less because of his realization.

3)

The question of whether or not Toby will ever be able to forgive Dwight cannot really be answered with a yes or no, and far more important and interesting questions are, does Toby want to forgive Dwight, does Dwight deserve forgiveness, and what is the nature of forgiveness in this scenario? Dwight no doubt has his demons like anyone else, and there might be certain reasons that he acts in the way he does, but if he never recognizes and acknowledges the faults of his behavior than it is difficult to see how we would ever deserve forgiveness, or why Toby would forgive him. Dwight is not a permanent fixture in Toby's life, either, meaning there is no real need for Toby to forgive Dwight -- he simply doesn't have to deal with him anymore. Determining the nature of forgiveness in this scenario is of course a complex and largely abstract task, but the actual harm done or forgiveness-requiring character traits would need to be identified before this could be ascertained.

4)

Toby's primary and only real mentor is his older brother, Geoffrey. Geoffrey acts as something of a father figure to Jack when he can, and is certainly more of a father figure to him than anyone else in the story, including Toby real father and his mother's men (like Dwight). Toby looks to Geoff not just for protection or a means of escaping the abuse he suffers, but also for some compassion and understanding as well as an assurance that it is possible to go somewhere else with his life. In other sense, Jack London is Toby's mentor; it is this author that Toby looked to for a name when he felt he needed a change, and that inspires his sense of adventure. Jack London also wrote about being alone in the wilderness, and that is often how Toby seems to feel throughout the various periods of his life.