While his parents, especially his mother, do want to share that history with him there are some moments that show that there are some things they aren’t comfortable telling him. For example, when GB and his mother are sorting through old boxes and he finds a specific postcard the mother takes it from him and closes the box quickly. It’s later revealed that this postcard was the one that informed her of her father’s death. However, GB already knows that his grandfather is no longer alive, so why would she not want him to read the postcard? Perhaps she was ashamed of the fact that she wasn’t there for her father in his final days. Mentioned throughout the novel multiple times is the phrase“ Our parents care for us as our teeth sharpen, so we care for them as their teeth dull, my parents didn’t get the chance to do that”. Therefore, the mother probably felt ashamed of not taking care of her parents because it was something that she thought was her duty that she was not able to
While his parents, especially his mother, do want to share that history with him there are some moments that show that there are some things they aren’t comfortable telling him. For example, when GB and his mother are sorting through old boxes and he finds a specific postcard the mother takes it from him and closes the box quickly. It’s later revealed that this postcard was the one that informed her of her father’s death. However, GB already knows that his grandfather is no longer alive, so why would she not want him to read the postcard? Perhaps she was ashamed of the fact that she wasn’t there for her father in his final days. Mentioned throughout the novel multiple times is the phrase“ Our parents care for us as our teeth sharpen, so we care for them as their teeth dull, my parents didn’t get the chance to do that”. Therefore, the mother probably felt ashamed of not taking care of her parents because it was something that she thought was her duty that she was not able to