You deserved a winner and you got a loser.
George Caldwell wanted to be a good husband and a good father, providing his family with everything needed. He felt guilty, for his Peter “ deserved a winner ” but “ got a loser ”. No matter how much Peter tried to show his father that he loved him, it didn’t work. These words show not only George’s despair but also his love for his son. One should really love another person to wish him or her all the best even if it would mean one’s own grief. When George said that he wished that Peter had another father, these words hurt him also, for he loved his son and just wished he was happy.
I enjoyed at this age a strange innocence about suffering; I believed it was necessary to men.
Peter was a teenager and like many other teenagers he had his own reasons to suffer. Unlike suffering in adulthood, suffering at his age had “ a strange innocence ” , for it was caused by love or school problems and nothing dirty. Peter said that he “ believed it was necessary to men to suffer ” in order to become a better person. The most interesting thing was that even at the age of fifteen, Peter showed his readiness to suffer for others and for the sake of becoming a better man . Peter was Prometheus at the mythological level, who, even being aware that he would suffer later, brought fire to people.
We never know when we will be called.
Pop Kramer, George’s father-on-law, is quite an old man, who knows genuine value of time. Although he is older, than George Caldwell, he doesn’t hurry up to die. He says, “ we never know when we will be called ”, showing a healthy attitude to both life and death. Traditionally, those who are naturally closer to death are grateful for every new day. Those who are young speak and think about death, knowing that it is still far away.
