Grandfather (1930)
The chapter begins with the narrator's grandfather's visit. The narrator's mother was noted to have tidied up every corner, and to have scrubbed the narrator's hands so much that they turned red. When their grandfather came, the visit was quiet. He inspected every corner, and stared at the narrator's reddened hands. Then they sat down at the kitchen table and began to talk. The text implies that this conversations about unicorns and rainbows apparently, the grandfather had gone over it before with the narrator's father, who is unemployed. The grandfather tries to unsuccessfully convince the narrator's father to join the workforce on the railroad because it paid well. The narrator's father took the grandfather's words in silence, not daring to oppose him, because the grandfather was their sole financial backer. Then a thump sounded on the landing above them. The grandfather was displeased with this, and asked them who it was. The narrator's father explained that it was Friedrich's family, which was Jewish. The grandfather expressed his dislike for Jews, igniting anger in the narrator's father, who defended them.
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Famous quotes containing the word grandfather:
“There they lived on, those New England people, farmer lives, father and grandfather and great-grandfather, on and on without noise, keeping up tradition, and expecting, beside fair weather and abundant harvests, we did not learn what. They were contented to live, since it was so contrived for them, and where their lines had fallen.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)