Father-son Complicated Relationship in The Reunion

The narrator of John Cheever’s “Reunion,” tells of the time the narrator reunited with his father only to be disappointed in the end. In the beginning of the story, the narrator mentions that his father was a stranger to him due to his parents being divorced. This brief explanation foreshadows the narrator’s negative experience with his father to the reader, as there is a reason that his parents were divorced in the first place. The narrator also mentions a “rich compound of whiskey” (Cheever 338) when he catches the scent of his father when they meet.

Throughout the story the narrator is not seen speaking with his father, not even a single word, but the narrator’s silence says a lot of what he could possibly be thinking while he and his father are pub-hopping. The irony is that the narrator describes the joy of meeting his estranged father for the first time saying, “I hoped that someone would see us together. I wish that we could be photographed. I wanted some record of our having been together” (Cheever 338), but this joy transforms into disappointment, shock, disbelief, and regret towards the end of the story when he sees what his father truly is. The narrator begins by idolizing his father, knowing that he in some way will become like him in the future, continuing the legacy by saying, “I would have to plan my campaigns within his limitations” (Cheever 338). However, the narrator’s impressions of his father turn in the opposite direction as the narrator observes his father’s arrogant, disrespectful behavior towards the waiters as he demands the fuel to his alcoholic habit, he realizes that he should have expected the unexpected. The father also distances from his son, focusing more on ordering his drink and bringing him to the club rather than introducing himself, and catching up with his own blood. To the narrator, it seems as if his father isn’t even aware that he his meeting his own son, nor does it seem to be anything special to him. This ties into the repetition that occurs with the word “Daddy” towards the end of the story. When the narrator says, “That’s all right Daddy” (Cheever 339), when his father offers to walk him back to the train station, it signifies rejection, and that the narrator wants nothing to do with him anymore.

The second “Daddy” is mentioned when the narrator tells his father, “I have to go Daddy” (Cheever 340), signifies a sign of letting go and separation, and the finally the narrator permanently ends his father-son relationship by saying “Goodbye Daddy” (Cheever 340). The father could be seen as a reflection of the author, John Cheever, who also suffered from alcoholism, and could accurately depict the behavior of an alcoholic, and how such a habit creates gaps in relationships. Ultimately, the narrator learns never to have high expectations, as when we do not meet those expectations, we are unprepared to feel the disappointment. The author believed that his father would present himself mannerly, as an image of the son’s future self, a positive future. Someone that the son can relate to, look up to, and catch up with. However the son’s imagination got the best of him and all he could do was leave it as it was before the reunion with his father.