Jason's parents are fighting over him as their marriage falls apart, trying to buy his affection through pocket money and gifts. They're in a competition over their unsuspecting son. This reminds me of my cousin, Amy, and her ex-husband, Joel (names have been changed).
Amy is a schoolteacher and Joel makes more money than her. Their three kids, Ellen, Jack, and Hailey, live with their mother most of the time. Since the divorce, Joel has been buying a constant stream of expensive gifts for the kids. The most recent present? Ipads. Amy doesn't have the money to buy her kids expensive presents, but she's their main caretaker. Joel tries to get his kids to like him better by buying them the expensive gifts their mother can't afford, even though they spend much more time with their mother.
The sad thing is that this method of buying a child's "love" through material things is very effective, especially for young, naive kids. I saw Jack, who is 9 years old, over spring break. One of his favorite conversational topics was his new iPad and how much fun he has playing with it.
His happiness was evident whenever he talked about his precious iPad. "My dad gave it to me!" he proudly proclaimed. It seemed that his father had successfully won his son's affection with a gift that Amy couldn't match. All Amy can give to her kids is her love and care. That seems like it's better than what Joel gives them, but the kids are young enough that they don't appreciate it. They just like the gifts from their father.
Helena and Michael Taylor are embroiled in a battle similar to the one-sided one that Joel is waging with Amy. Michael gives Jason extra spending money and then, on top of that, buys him a fossil. Helena tries to one-up Michael by giving Jason double the money that Michael gave him. Both scenes are relatively happy ones, and Jason has a bonding moment with each of his parents.
Neither parent won that battle, but maybe neither of them deserved to. They shouldn't have to fight over their son, especially through money and material gifts. What makes Jason happier is spending time having fun with his parents. not just spending their money.
What's sad about this "battle" in the novel is that, while Jason is thrilled to get the spending money, it doesn't really have an effect on which "side" he's on (mostly because he doesn't even want to be on a "side," as we observed in "Rocks"; he just wants everything to be normal again). He does come away from "Souvenirs" with some strong feelings about his parents, but these have more to do with the "tests" they both take--his father fails miserable, kissing up to Craig Salt, while his mother impresses him, with her "bulletproof" reaction to the shoplifters.
ReplyDeleteWhen Jason remarks, in "Knife Grinder," that playing makeshift ping-pong with Dean's family is loads more fun than his bedroom TV, it speaks volumes about this whole issue. His dad gets him a cool gift (the iPad of his day, a TV in his room!), but he'd really prefer a family having fun and being goofy and together, like he sees at Dean's.