The narrator’s father does not farm like the other fathers. Instead, he still works in the town the family moved from. He seems to have grown up in a similar rural community, as he fondly remembers raiding watermelons as a rebellious teenage rite of passage. When Mr. Wills destroys his watermelon patch after finding out his prized watermelon has been stolen, the narrator’s father models a brave, caring masculinity by trying to stop Mr. Wills’s destruction, despite being smaller than him. His reaction to learning that the narrator has stolen the watermelon also demonstrates thoughtfulness and care, as he does not angrily reprimand his son, but instead goes over to the Wills house to help his son apologize.
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The narrator’s father Character Timeline in The Taste of Watermelon
The timeline below shows where the character The narrator’s father appears in The Taste of Watermelon. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Taste of Watermelon
When he gets home, his father asks him where he has been, and the narrator tells him he was swimming. The...
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The narrator follows his father into the watermelon patch, passing Mrs. Wills and Willadean, who are huddled in the kitchen...
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...bag, crawling around on the ground for the last ones. When he returns home, his father asks him if he was afraid of Mr. Wills last night, and the narrator responds...
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...to help Mr. Wills with next year’s melon crop. Mr. Wills looks at the narrator’s father and explains that he has no sons himself, and he needs a boy to help...
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