Compass And Torch Summary

When growing up children fight to be accepted and to be heard by their parents. In society most parents are constantly on the run and they do not take the time to enjoy spending time with their loved ones. These children try to get attention from their parents, but if their parents do not hear them, then they will feel like they have failed, but because they love their parents they accept it, and do not question their parents’ behavior.

At the same time parents might also try to reach their children, but they get lost and therefore he relationship between the child and the parent can be damaged, because neither Of the parts feel like they get heard.

Accepting and the fear Of losing are two of the main themes in the short story Compass and Torch, where a father takes his son with him on a camping trip, where the son tries to talk to his father, but his father does not pay attention and his father tries to forget his anxiety to lose his son.

Compass and Torch was written by Elizabeth Beanies, an English writer and was published in 2003. The short story starts in medias rest and the story is built up chronological tit a few flashbacks between the camping trip and at his mother’s house. The story is set at two different locations, one location at the boys mother and her boyfriend’s house and the second location on the camping trip up in the mountains.

Get quality help now

Bella Hamilton

Verified

Proficient in: Child

5 (234)

“ Very organized ,I enjoyed and Loved every bit of our professional interaction ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

The short story is told by a third person narrator and is attached to the boy, therefore the story is told from his point of view.

The boy adores his father. His father on the other hand, does not seem to be very interested and he does not show any interest when his son shows him his torch or talks to him. Before going on the camping trip with his father, the boy hears his mother talks badly about the father, and the relationship between the boy and his father can be damaged since the boy lives at his mother who does not speak nice about the father. The father is so afraid of losing his son that he forgets to pay attention when his son speaks to him.

Compass And Torch

The boy and his father are both very desperate to spend time together and to be loved by one another, but none of them wants to do something about it. The boy accepts the fact that his father does not pay attention to him, and the ether is not aware of his son’s desperation. The boy is eightieth old. He is a flat-round person, since we do not hear much about his looks but what is on his mind instead. He is also a static character, because he does not grow as a person – he sticks to whom he was when the story began.

He lives with his mother and her boyfriend Jim. His mother does not trust her ex-husband, and she feels the need for telling her husband that they cannot go camping near the edge. Even though Jim is very nice to him, he is still not his own father, and therefore does the boy treat him tit caution. The boy is afraid of opening up for other people since the boy adores his father and he watches his every move. But on the other hand he calls him “the man”, so it is almost like he forgot his father.

When he tries to show his father his torch, his father looks away and the boy does not get upset: “Ifs K, the boy decides, that his dad hasn’t looked at the torch, hasn’t studied it like Jim. ” (Page 8, line 49-50), and when his father almost cancel their camping trip, he is full of fear even though he had a brief moment where he did not want to go. He seems to be very sensitive but at the same time he tries to avoid confrontation with both of his parents: his father, when he does not listen to him or pay him half attention and when he overhears a conversation between the mother and Jim talking bad about his father.

The torch symbolizes the connection between the boy and his father. “Its better to have it for a proper purpose, to put it away, to carry it carelessly but with meaning, as a warrior might carry his sword. A torch is for lighting when the time comes, for lighting up the expedition of father and son. ” (Page 8, line 50-53). It is what keeps them from fading apart, but it can also symbolizes the father’s anxiety to lose his son; “The man gently takes away the torch” (Page 11, line 166).

The son who is so eager to speak and to be acknowledged by his father, and the father who is very afraid of losing his only son one year on from the separation, and therefore he only listen to half of the things that his son says. They are camping up a mountain and the mountain, which symbolizes the foundation of their relationship, and it is as firm as a rock. The main theme in the short story is the fear of not getting acknowledged is en of the struggles that the little boy fights with.

The father on the other hand struggles with the fear of losing his son, and he becomes so desperate that he forgets his son and loses him: “For years to come, though, in his dreams the boy will see their wild fringed eyes and feel the deep thudding of their hooves. ” (Page 11, line 169-170). The story shows how important it is to live in the present and communication is one of the most important tools to make a family work. If communication works in the family it is more likely to believe that acknowledging and accepting one another is easier.