In Michael Ondaatje's Running in the Family and Richard Van Camp's The Lesser Blessed Van Camp, the male protagonist is deeply affected by an alcoholic father In The Lesser Blessed, Larry Sole's father becomes physically and sexually abusive when drunk. As a result, Larry ends up killing his father and lives with graphic memories. and traumatic experiences of him In Running in the Family, Michael Ondaatje's father's alcoholism drives his family away and he ends up committing suicide in a drunken state, which prohibits Michael from having a relationship with his father. There is a distinct difference in how the men view their fathers: Michael romanticizes the memory of his father while Larry is horribly traumatized by the memory of his father. their storytelling as a coping strategy. Michael uses the act of storytelling to become closer to his father and learn more about him through the stories of others, but Larry uses it to externalize his trauma and distance himself from his father. In Running in the Family and The Lesser Blessed, Van Camp and Ondaatje show how storytelling can be used in contrasting ways to achieve the same goal of closure in dealing with their alcoholic fathers. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Larry and Michael both have alcoholic fathers who they remember very differently. Larry's father was in residential schools and although "he never talked about what happened there...he always spoke French when he drank" (58). Larry's father refuses to face the trauma he experienced at residential schools and uses alcohol to escape the reality of what happened to him. It is only when he is drunk that he is able to express his trauma by speaking French and becomes physically and sexually violent as a result of this release. Larry remembers watching his father sexually abuse his mother and aunt and how afterwards Larry would sniff gas with his cousins. Larry reveals that he "wasn't too crazy about it at first, but after seeing [his] father do bad things to [his] aunt, it made the tremors go away" (58). The intergenerational effects of residential schools are evident as Larry must resort to drugs to escape the trauma he suffers from his father's alcoholism and resulting abuse. Larry also suffers from this sexual abuse, and his father "forces his penis into his son's mouth... objectifies the child as a vehicle for sexual liberation, inscribing in Larry a feeling of uselessness in his father's eyes" (McKegney 212). With this traumatic event, Larry describes “[his] hammer, [his] secret defense; [him] standing over [his] father and bringing him down, slamming him,” because he “wanted to take him out, the sin, the dirt, the semen and the blood in [his] mouth” ( Van Camp 78). Larry kills his father because he fears further abuse and feels worthless; he sees no other way to save himself and his mother. He remembers his father's murder after being knocked unconscious at the school dance when he "tastes blood in [his] mouth where [he] had bitten [his tongue...[he] could hear [ his] father shiver. again as [he] brought down the hammer” (77). Tasting the blood in his mouth again brings back the intensely vivid flashback of his father's murder as he slips seamlessly into this graphic memory. This traumatic event, as well as the memory of his father,are strong in his mind, which is why he is able to return his thoughts to the murder scene so quickly. In Running in the Family, Michael's experience with his alcoholic father, Mervyn, is different because he was never physically or sexually abused. However, his father's limp had a major effect on his family's life. “From the first drink, after which he could almost never stop, the wars [between his parents] would begin again” (Ondaatje 154) and Michael was “too young and unconscious” to realize what was happening every time his “ father wanted it.” fall into one of his alcoholic states” (152). Michael doesn't remember what his father looked like when he was drunk because he wasn't old enough to understand at the time. As a result, Michael never saw or felt for himself how frustrating having an alcoholic husband and father was to his mother and siblings. Michael believes that his life was "terribly shaped by what came before him" (161) and that due to alcoholism and subsequent divorce, his father was "always separated until his dead, far from » Michael and his brothers and sisters (154). . Michael feels estranged from his family life in Ceylon, being the youngest sibling, and regrets not knowing his father better and being closer to him. He realizes that his "loss was that [he] never spoke to [his father] as an adult", which shows how much Michael laments the fact that he missed out on a relationship with his father (161). Mervyn ends up committing suicide while drunk one night, leaving Michael with only other people's stories to piece together the man his father was and consequently has very few, if any, personal memories of his father. Larry and Michael have very different memories of their alcoholic fathers. While Larry's memories are vivid and overwhelming, Michael's are incomplete and mostly made up of what others tell him. By juxtaposing their memories, it's clear why Larry and Michael have very contrasting opinions about their fathers. Due to different experiences and memories, Ondaatje and Larry have contrasting feelings towards their fathers. Ondaatje is able to romanticize who his father was because his memories are vague and took place a long time ago. His memories of alcoholism stand in stark contrast to the graphic and horrific images Larry recalls in The Lesser Blessed. Larry does not romanticize his father at all and "scratches the word NO a hundred million times on the back of all the mirrors in [his] house with a knife, so that [his] mother will see that [he] says NO to her, so that [his] mother sees that [he] is saying NO to [his] father… and to unforgivable acts” (Van Camp 1). Larry cannot forgive his father and continually relives the abuse he suffered throughout the novel; he is still so immersed in the trauma that his hatred towards his father is very present. In contrast, Michael idealizes his father and remembers him for "the games invented with his children... the relearning of old songs from the past to delight them... the silliness of the lyrics from the thirties which had always moved him... [his ] courtesy, [his] modesty… decent gestures within a small circle of family and friends” (Ondaatje 182-183). These are “errant actions of which [Michael is] informed by those who loved [his father],” which paint a romanticized picture of Mervyn that Michael adopts as his own (182). As a result, Michael's view of his father is idealized and he longs to have a relationship with him. According to a scientific study published in the journal Family Science, there are four types of relationships that a son can have with his alcoholic father: “affection, irritation, melancholy and hatred” (Pirskanen 396). Michael is representative of the “Story of tenderness”, in which “the sons [are] faithful to their fathers, refuse to see them negatively and defend them against possible criticism” (397). This type of relationship is more common when "after a long period of estrangement" from each other, the son feels "in some way in control of the relationship", which mirrors Michael's relationship with his father (397). Michael does not clearly remember his father's drinking problem, so he is able to distance himself from that part of Mervyn and only have affectionate feelings towards him. Larry's relationship with his father is representative of the "Narrative of Hate." This account is unique because in this case, the child's father's "early memories were already negative, because the father had been physically violent towards the mother, the son, the siblings, or all of these" (398 ). Larry's memories of his father's drinking problems and abuse date back to when he was a young child. The psychological, physical, and sexual abuse Larry suffered “prevented him from feeling… positive emotional elements” (398). The “Target of Hate” accurately describes Larry’s relationship with his father. This study illustrates how sons of alcoholic fathers can have very different feelings toward them, which is evident in the difference between Michael and Larry's feelings toward their father. The way these two men remember their fathers is extremely different, and as a result, they both use storytelling in contrasting ways for their healing process. In both novels, Larry and Michael both use the act of storytelling as a coping mechanism to manage their relationships with their fathers. Larry's narrative is a combination of Western and Indigenous values, as he tells Indigenous stories and uses them as a vehicle for healing, which represents a very Westernized idea of ​​therapy and expressing one's feelings. The first story he tells another character in the novel is the Native creation story. After Larry finishes the story, Johnny says, "You're a storyteller, man." Your voice changed even when you spoke” (Van Camp 52). Larry is “proud of the moment and the revelation. It was the first time [he] had told the story and [he] liked the way it felt,” which shows how storytelling gives him feelings of pride, liberation, and happiness (52). . When Larry remembers the fire he started with his cousins, he remembers how "[they] were crying because they knew they had no one." No one to remember [their] names, no one to cry out to [them]… to mourn [them] in death]… [they] cried because [they] belonged to no one” (79). Larry doesn't feel connected to anyone in the world, which is why he lights the fire to kill himself and his cousins. He is made to feel worthless by his father who uses him as a vehicle for sexual liberation and, as a result, does not feel like he belongs to anyone or anywhere in the world and tries to commit suicide. Storytelling is a way for “people [to] bring order to events and understand reality…thus creating connections between the world, themselves, and others” (Bosticco 3). Telling Johnny the Native creation story feels good to Larry because he uses the act of telling a story to connect to someone else and the Native community as a whole. One of Larry's most difficult insecurities is that he doesn't fit in anywhere, so storytelling is an imperative part of his healing process because it connects him to someone and gives him a sense of belonging. which he needs. As Larry develops his storytelling skillsthroughout the novel he connects with more and more people. Juliette, the girl he desires, calls him one evening and asks him to tell her a story. Before he begins, Larry thinks "this is his chance to completely give Juliet something that was so much that it wouldn't be anything else" (Van Camp 99). He knows that by telling her this story, he is giving her a part of himself and creating a space to belong to the world. Larry not only tells stories to feel connected to others, but also as a cathartic release to heal from his trauma because "each time [one] tells [one's] story, it takes up less space and less heartache in [his] soul” (Bosticco 5). Throughout the novel, Larry continually returns to his moment of trauma and relives it in horrific detail. At the beginning of the novel, he is unable to tell his therapist what happened or to express to her what he is experiencing. However, after his evolution throughout the novel and as he enters into his role as storyteller, he can begin to open up to Juliet about what happened to him. While at the beginning, after being burned, he “[does] not want [anyone] to see what [he] has become” and screams at the sight of “a raw hamburger on a human face” (81). , at the end of the novel while he is sleeping with Juliet, he says “Look at me… Look at me, look at me” (110). Larry invites Juliette to observe the effects of her trauma in the physical form of her burns. As he experiences his first sexual release, he simultaneously experiences this emotional and cathartic release from his trauma. Juliette looks at him and Larry thinks: "I wasn't alone, I wasn't forgotten, I wasn't dead, there was no small town, there was no murder, I wasn’t bad, I was clean” (110). He completely changes how he felt before attempting suicide because he feels connected to someone else and releases that memory and shares it with her by allowing her to look at his scars. In Running in the Family, Michael also uses narration in order to cope with the fact that he never really had a relationship with his father. The entire act of writing this novel is an attempt to get to know his father better from the stories people told him to help him write this fictional memoir. Michael's brother tells him that "[he] has to get this book right" because "[he] can only write it once" (183). Michael's brother cares about the accuracy and reconstruction of all stories, but that is not Michael's main focus. In the Acknowledgments section at the end of the novel, Michael admits that "the book is not a story but a portrait of 'gesture'... [because] a lie well told is worth a thousand facts" (Ondaatje 189). Michael is preoccupied with the process of writing this novel and understanding all the stories and memories he is told about his father. People often reconstruct or elaborate stories of grief or bereavement, and as a result "the stories do not always accurately reflect what actually happened...[so] "to some extent, our stories...". . . are all fictions” (Bosticco 8). This “sense-making” technique is exactly what Michael does in his novel Running in the Family (4). “This ‘redramatization’ of family stories can give family members access to the grief scripts they carry” and help them cope with their loss in healthy ways (13). Between pages 174 and 180, Michael recounts several different perspectives on Mervyn's death, but despite all the information and memories he hears, Michael acknowledges that "the book is once again incomplete." Ultimately, all [Mervyn's] children move among acts and » :.