Compass And Torch
The worst thing you can do is to forget your child, not physically forget it in the supermarket, but mentally forget it. The worst thing is to forget to take time of with your child, listen to it and talk to it. Show them that you are there for them and only for them. Some people never learn how to talk to children, even though it is their own children, but it dose not mean that you cannot listen to them and pay attention. Sometimes it is just as important as talking.
In this short story the main themes are: a dad who loves his son, but show it on his completely own way. A boy who almost desperately craves for his dad’s attention and a typical strained relationship between a divorced couple.

We never get to know the little boys name he is just been mentioned as “the boy”. He is eight years old and live together with his mom and his stepfather Jim. When “the boy” was seven his parents got divorced, and now the boy does not see his dad that often. It is like he has a kind of strained relationship to his mothers “new” boyfriend Jim. “The boy forced himself to put the torch into Jim’s … hand” when he use the word “forced” it is like he does not trust Jim to carry this torch and when the boy forces himself to recognize Jim’s kindness and affirmation … and then the boy think “But he is not dad”. He knows that Jim is there for him, and pay attention to him, but he should not like to think that he is the little boy’s dad. And therefore their relationship seems to be a little bit difficult seen from the boy’s sight.
The relationship between the boy and the dad is not a normal father son relationship. First they do not see each other very often and second, when they do it is like the dad does not pay attention to his son. Sometimes he does not answer when his son asks for something and if he answers he answers with a very short answer. He is very snappy.
Even though he is very snappy and does not pay attention, the boy still loves his dad very much. He looks very much up to his dad, you can see it several places in the story – “It’s OK, the boy decide, that his dad hasn’t looked at the torch, hasn’t studied or handled it like Jim. It’s better; the torch is not for looking at now”. In most people’s eyes Jim makes the right thing: pay attention. But because the dad is who he is, namely the boy’s dad, it means that everything he do is the right thing seen from the boy’s perspective. When the dad leaves the car he does not say “hey son, come we are leaving now we have an adventure ahead” – no he just go without saying anything. The boy’s reaction to that is just that his dad did the right thing because there is no time for hanging around when there is an adventure waiting ahead. By all that the little boy still cannot see that his dad’s behavior is wrong because he looks that much up to him. And he tries unsuccessfully to make his dad proud of him, but his dad do not accommodate of it.
The boy also incurs his dad’s emotions and feelings – you can almost say that the little boy is his dad’s length arm. When the dad figures out that he has forgotten the compass, the disappointment is very clear. “The boy’s eyes are suddenly wide with fear and dismay”. And all that only because of his dad’s reaction, but as soon as the dad says “Never mind” it is like a weight was lifted from the boy’s heart, now they could go on because his dad was happy again.
The boy’s mom has no problems seeing her son’s dad’s flaws rather the contrary. She finds it very difficult to say anything good about him, and when the little boy hears that his mother is criticizing his dad – he want to stop her. He does not like when his mother and Jim talk bad about his dad, or when they behave weird towards him – like he is nothing. And by that you can also say that the boy is extremely loyal to his dad.
There are some symbols in this short story. You use a compass when you have to find the right way. On this camping trip the goal for those to people is to find the right way to a good relationship between them – it fails. When you do not have a compass then it is very difficult to find the way – the possibility of you failing is big. The same as this trip, they do not know which way they should go to find the right way to a good and healthy relationship.
Then there is the torch. A torch can light up the way when you cannot see. They cannot find/ see the right way because of the missing compass, but even though it is dark they can see a way – maybe not the right way, but a way because of the light the torch are giving them. And there for you can say that the torch is a symbolism of hope.

There always have to be two to create a good and healthy relationship; one can simply not bear the burden alone. The person who tries to bear the burden, who tries to fight, but fights alone deserves more.