Morris, you see, had been a street boy in Liverpool—Woody’s mother and her sister were British by birth. Morris’s Polish family, on their way to America, abandoned him in Liverpool because he had an eye infection and they would all have been sent back from Ellis Island. They stopped awhile in England, but his eyes kept running and they ditched him. They slipped away, and he had to make out alone in Liverpool at the age of twelve. Mother came of better people. Pop, who slept in the cellar of her house, fell in love with her. At sixteen, scabbing during a seamen’s strike, he shovelled his way across the Atlantic and jumped ship in Brooklyn. He became an American, and America never knew it. He voted without papers, he drove without a license, he paid no taxes, he cut every corner. Horses, cards, billiards, and women were his lifelong interests, in ascending order. Did he love anyone (he was so busy)? Yes, he loved Halina. He loved his son. To this day, Mother believed that he had loved her most and always wanted to come back. This gave her a chance to act the queen, with her plump wrists and faded Queen Victoria face. “The girls are instructed never to admit him,” she said. The Empress of India, speaking.

Bellow’s, in several successful ways, endears Morris to the reader. The above paragraph is one instance of this. Bellow’s elicits pity by informing us that Morris was abandoned at the age of twelve by his family. In just a few sentences he is able to justify why Morris is an incompetent father, constantly dependent upon his son for help and money. I think that the power in the opening of this paragraph lies in the fact that it isn’t Morris divulging his own sob story. Throughout the piece, it is Woody who makes forgiving justifications for his father while, actively looking for the good in him. Woody is not as kind in his depiction of his mother, instead he reveals her religious hypocrisy and lack of passion towards life. In this paragraph’s close, Woody briefly references his mother. In doing so, he reinforces the idea that she has played a much more passive role in both her own life and in his, than did his father.

The last few paragraphs of the story are incredibly compelling. The image of Woody holding his shrunken dying father to keep him from ending his life was very moving. This scene in which, Morris manages to die on his own terms really drives home the tenacity, for better or worse, by which Morris lived. In that one image, Bellow’s affirms that this story is, as he declared in its beginning, a reflective memorial piece during mourning.

Morris is more compelling than any of the other characters, including Woody, despite all of his negative attributes or actions. This might be due to the affectionate manner in which Woody regards his deceased father. Also, there is an extremely genuine quality to the piece, due in part to Bellow’s candid style. This made me feel more empathy for the characters and it made the story seem more real.