The Invisible Mentor

Role Reversal – A Book Review of The Little Father by Gelett Burgess

July 31st, 2009 |

Review of The Little Father by Gelett Burgess

I decided to read a few more works by Gelett Burgess who wrote the People Cow poem. I put The Little Father on hold at the library and later found out that it was a children’s book. No problem, I thought, I could review it for this blog. I read The Little Father in less than 15 minutes. My initial impressions were that I had wasted my time, and that it did not make any sense for me to review it since there was not much substance to the book.

Several hours later while reflecting, I wondered if I was being fair so I made a commitment to read the book again since it is so short. The following morning when I awoke, many issues danced around in my consciousness, and I realized these were issues that the book could have been raising. Have you been in a situation where you changed your mind after a good night’s sleep? I reread The Little Father and wrote the review.

Mr. Masters, a very obese man, had a four year son Michael. There was no Mrs. Masters but we were not told what happened to her, whether she had died or just simply left. Mr. Masters had the habit of drinking Indian ink, which is presumed to make him shrink. The more he drank his Indian ink the more he shrank. And soon he was the size of Michael. At this point Mr. Masters stopped more or less being a father to his son and was more of a pal. They played with Michael’s toys and shared clothes since Mr. Masters had been a frequent visitor to his tailor having to constantly have his clothes adjusted to fit his shrinking frame.

Mr. Masters was the topic of conversation among his neighbours and the neighbourhood children often ridiculed and made fun of him about his small size. But, Mr. Masters did not stop there, he kept on drinking the Indian ink until Michael had to use a microscope to see him. Michael is now taking care of his father and has been doing so for a while now.

The Little Father made me very angry. What would possess a father to do something so dumb, I thought. But the more I processed the information, the less angry I became. In life we have role reversals, where the child takes care of the parent as in eldercare. Except that this does not apply here because the child is only four years old and the parent is 42 years old.

So what other issue is at play? Should we speculate since the story is a bit scanty when it comes to information? Is it our responsibility to fill in the gaps? In life, we never have enough information, and often have to fill in the gaps based on “intelligent” assumptions. Did Mrs. Master leave Mr. Masters because he was obese? Did his neighbours and coworkers ridicule him because of his size? Obese people are often discriminated against, so this is a plausible assumption.

Was Mr. Masters often ignored by society, made to feel like he was insignificant and invisible, so now he works hard at becoming invisible, until he is indeed invisible to the naked eyes. Is this fair to his four year old son who now has to fend for himself? I am a deep thinker, have I gone off the deep end? Am I making too much out of this story, after all it is a children’s book. Should I take The Little Father at face value? If I do this book does not work for me.

How do our actions make others feel diminished?
Do we discriminate against others because they do not look like or behave in a manner that society expects?
How can we be in harmony with others?

I recommend that you read The Little Father because I would really like to know what you think and how you interpret the book.

Further Reading

Culture, Obesity Stereotypes, Self-Esteem, and the “Thin Ideal”: A Social Identity Perspective, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 33, No. 4, August 2004, pp. 307–317 ( C 2004), Paul A. Klaczynski, Kristen W. Goold, and Jeffrey J. Mudry

Obesity, Self Esteem and Wages, National Bureau of Economic Research, June 2009

Weight Discrimination: A Socially Acceptable Injustice By Rebecca Puhl, PhD