Monday, June 14, 2010

House Rules - 4nd set of questions/answers

  1. Jacob cannot stand sudden loud noises, bright lights, etc. The prosecutor knows this and purposefully crumples paper at the end of her opening statement which has the expected effect of freaking Jacob out.
  2. Theo runs away to visit his father, hoping to have someone to talk to about all that is going on and his involvement in it. Before he can even say anything, his father offers him a quick fix by handing him money. This is so absurd even for a teenager that Theo bursts out laughing, probably thinking how wrong he was to come and how wrong he was to leave his mother, the only parent who ever cared about him. On the trip back Emma and Theo spend some much-needed alone time together.
  3. Even in families that are not broken by divorce, the father often is not involved in the day-to-day activities of raising children, so the line, "You’re either a father twenty-four/seven or not at all" is not true in my opinion, though it would be great if it were like that.
  4. After all is said and done - the fact that Jacob says he would do it all over again speaks volumes. He would endure all the emotions and trauma of court to have it come out favorably. But also by saying that, Jacob admits to not learning anything from the experience, that if only he had made it clear from the beginning what his involvement was, or if only he had called the police at the moment he found the body. But the "if onlys" would mean no trial, no story, no book, so just glad that all is well that ends well.



~posted by Susan of patchwork reflections

2 comments:

Bonnie Jacobs said...

Good answers to all the questions, Susan. I should have told you that we sometimes skip a question or two and answer only what we have time for. Sometimes we get back to a question, and sometimes not. But I'm glad you were able to answer all the questions, even if it did feel like school to you! You wrote:

Even in families that are not broken by divorce, the father often is not involved in the day-to-day activities of raising children, so the line, "You’re either a father twenty-four/seven or not at all" is not true in my opinion, though it would be great if it were like that.

Do you think it would have made a difference for Theo if his dad had stayed in touch?

Susan Tidwell said...

I am not sure if just 'stayed in touch' would have made much of a difference, but if he had a father actually living at home I believe it would have, someone to fill for the lack of attention he was receiving from his mom.

It was fun, thanks!