Father's Return Home
In chapter 14 Father returns home from his trip to the arctic. The first thing he notices is that Mother is holding a stranger's baby. Doctorow writes, "He wandered through the house finding everywhere signs of his own exclusion" (109). Father notices many other differences in the household from before he left. This change surprises him because it is his own home and he has always been up-to-date in everything that is going on in it. So what does this mean in the context of the historical time period? Another change Father notices is the role Mother plays in their family and in the community. She has become much more independent and confident in her identity and behavior. Mother has started making decisions for the company, she decided to take legal responsibility for Sarah and the baby, she has started reading literature from more perspectives, and she has become less "vigorously modest" in the bedroom. This relates to the time period, as this was a p...