In William Wallis’s novel Hawk, Ray Falke is quite a different creature. Perfecto and Ray are similar only in the dual suffering of extreme adversity and abuse. Ray Falke, a flawed, seemingly cruel, father of four, cannot let go of his painful past. Unfortunately, Ray’s haunting past holds his entire family hostage, as everyone suffers enormously from his raging demons. During Ray’s tumultuous childhood, a machine on which he toiled “tore away all of his… fingers, all but one.” (38). Ray’s seven year old son Will was sadly cursed with the loss of an eye, and whenever Ray looked at Will, he saw a mirror image of himself, imperfect and permanently scared, with “no fortitude,” (37). Ray was constantly abused as a child and subconsciously chose to continue the cycle of brutality, thrusting it like a tornado upon his own flesh and blood. “His dreams were mostly painful, the meanness of the past, his own meanness and the hardness of his own life.” (62). Ray seems as well to have been a product of the stereotypical behavior that was unfortunately the norm for too many fathers in the Southern fifties. It is not until the last act of this beautifully crafted gothic novel that Ray has a coming of age, when he finds himself on the precipice of good and evil. He finally realizes he is about to cross the line into the dark side, from which he will never be able to return. After an abusive and incredibly powerful confrontation with his young son Will, Ray is able to finally come to terms with the past and we hope move towards a more peaceful life. “Ray glimpsed an austere beauty in his son’s face. And from the distance between them, marked by the oak posts and barbed wire of their time together thus far, each knew the other as much as was allowed their willing hearts.” (141). Ray experienced an extraordinarily powerful coming of age moment, and although life would probably never