How are relationships explored in the story, “Fathers and Sons”?
“Fathers and Sons” explores how a middle-aged Nick Adams chooses to remember his father and how he will choose to pass the memory of his father onto his own young son. Driving through an unfamiliar town with his son asleep in the seat next to him, passing the “corn fields” and “thickets” of the countryside, Nick is reminded of his father. As Nick begins thinking of his father, he first recalls the physical attributes, notably his father’s eyes that saw with the accuracy of a “big-horn ram” or an “eagle.” He admires his father’s eyes only as they are used for hunting. The clarity of vision that his father possessed could be linked to the clarity of the vision that is emerging in the mind’s eye of Nick. During his reverie, Nick also recalls the occasion when he was introduced to the word “mashing” in the morning newspaper. Nick is curious to know the word’s significance. As he has done before in “Indian Camp,” he appeals to his father as the knowledgeable authority. His father tells him
