The Farther You Go
Relationships are a hard thing in life that we have to face as a man or woman. You really have to love someone to know his or her true feelings or problems. In Richard Russo’s novel “The Whore’s Child and Other Stories”, he discusses about several relationships in a short story called The Farther You Go. A man named Hank that is in his early fifties has problems that he has to face as a man and problems in his family. As a man Hank has to face a sickness that was fought by his father when he was around Hank’s age. This frightens hank because his father died from this illness. In Hank’s family there are different levels of relationships with his wife Faye, his daughter Julie and her husband Russell. Hank and his wife have a strange relationship. Faye seems to think she knows everything about her husband. They have been unhappy at times, but something is missing in Hank’s love for Faye. On the other hand, Hank and his daughter’s relationship is also very strange. Hank feels different about his daughter than his other two children. He does not see any similarities between him and Julie. And he does no feel like he needs to be a part or step into Julie’s relationship with Russell. He also does not like how Julie built the same house as him that is right down the street from him. Hank does not mind Russell, he understands him at times. He just thinks Julie and him married to young, which made their relationship a little rocky. Julie thinks since her mom and dad have a great relationship, she wants to be as happy as them. However this is not how it seems to be with Hank and Faye’s relationship.
All the actions and dynamics of each character make them all different. Hank seems to have a struggle in life and he cannot really find a comfort. His love for Faye does not really seem like a true love.
This might be, because Hank had an affair with another woman. He feels like he can tell his problems to the woman he had an affair with, but he can’t...