The Drunkard

In this entry I would like to discuss the differences between the father's reaction and the mother's reaction to their son being drunk.  I was disgusted by the father's behavior throughout the entire short story.  When his son, his very young son, was bent over puking, he barely attempted to comfort him.  He was more worried about getting his fancy funeral suit dirty than the fact that his son was clearly in agony.  He viewed his son and their walk home together as an embarrassment.  I don't think he ever stopped to realize that what he was seeing was a mirror image of himself when HE was intoxicated.  All he could think about was getting his swooning son home before the whole street could get the idea that he was a bad father.  And even in the end, he was only bitter about the fact that Larry had taken all of his beer.
Larry's mother was furious with the father at the fact that he had allowed their boy to become drunk.  However, in the privacy of being alone with Larry, it became obvious that she couldn't have been more grateful that he had done so.  "You brave little man...you were his guardian angel" (O'Connor, 351).  She realized that it was because of her innocent son that her alcoholic husband hadn't come home dangerously intoxicated.