It doesn’t matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was. – Anne Sexton

Each of us has a view of our father that is, in large part, myth. Even in our adulthood, we see him through our child-eyes. First a god, then all too human. He fills or fails the expectations we have of what we imagine a father should be.

We rarely consider who our father was before we existed but, were we to try, at best we would have only the smallest taste. If we become parents, we tend to re-imagine our fathers, either trying to emulate them or trying to correct their deficiencies by being better parents to our own children.

Literature abounds with great books by and about fathers. Through these books, we can better understand and appreciate the unique relationship between fathers and their children. Can you see your father in any of these memorable ones?

Non-Fiction:
Lt. Col Mark Weber – Tell My Sons
“Pa” Ingalls – Little House on the Prairie
Robert M. Pirsig – Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Errol Flynn – The Baron of Mulholland

Fiction:
Atticus Finch – To Kill a Mockingbird
Baba – The Kite Runner
Tevye – Tevye and His Daughters
The Man – The Road
Mr. Bennett – Pride and Prejudice
Bob Cratchit – A Christmas Carol
Horton – Horton Hatches the Egg
Jean Valjean – Les Misérables
Thomas Schell – Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Jack Torrance – The Shining

For all those fathers grappling with teenage children, share this gem from Mark Twain:
When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.