The story of ďGastonĒ by William Saroyan is about a father and a daughter. The daughter visited her father in Paris to spent time with him. The beginning of the story it seemed that the girl had not seen her father in a long time and he could possibly be a stranger until the father ate a flawed peach and found a worm in the peach. He gave the name Gaston to the worm and refused to squash the worm. He put himself to the Gaston to tell the daughter how lonely he is and where he is now. At first she was interested in the Gaston and adapted what the father said until she had conversation with her mother. After having conversation with her mother she squashed the worm and refused what father said. She had closer relationship with her mother than the father. Then the daughter left the house and the father begins to feel like Gaston on the plate. Even though the father wanted to have close relationship with his daughter he lost his chance to be close to her, because of his unique and individualistic. In the story ďGastonĒ, the father is outsider and different from the normal society. The fatherís behavior and his conversation style and the idea of being a father revealed the fatherís very unique and individualistic.
The fatherís behavior revealed his unique and individualistic. After he found worm from the peach he refused to squash it as normal people would do. Instead of squashing it he gave the worm the name Gaston and he put himself to the Gaston. He told his daughter that the Gaston is confused outside from the peach. ďheís a little confused.Ē (3. 66) It reveled that the father is also confused by losing his family and being outside from the society. He also told the daughter how lonely he is using Gastonís situation. ďthe poor fellow hasnít got a home, and there he is with all that pure design and handsome form and nowhere to go.Ē(3. 61-62) However the daughter is only six year old girl. The daughter is too young to understand what real meaning of the Gaston is and what the father was trying say. So what the father told the daughter was needless. Another his strange behavior is he didnít hug her when the daughter left his house instead of hugging; he shook hands with his daughter. ďThey shook hands instead, as if they were strangers.Ē (6. 194) Normally people would hug when their family leave the house. However the father shook hands instead, it reveals his strange behavior and he is outsiders in the society. In the last scene the daughter represent as normal people in the society. She squashed the Gaston and didnít want the flawed peach as normal people. The father heard about what the daughter did and want. After all that he didnít hug her. He treated her as normal people in the society so he didnít hug her. That represent he didnít want to get into the society or he didnít want anyone in his life.
The fatherís communication style also revealed his unique and individualistic. The father wanted to build up the close relationship with his daughter. However when she asked him what she should do when her mother want her to go back he said something thatís not what normal parents would say. ďSay yes if you want to go back.Ē (4. 112) Again, the daughter is only six year old girl, she can not decide herself. Normally the parents decide for their children until they can decide themselves. However the father told her to decide herself. It may get the daughter confused. He also didnít ask things that he should have. After he came back from found the flawed peach the daughter said she didnít want the flawed peach anymore. Then he said just ok instead of asking why she changed her mind. She changed her mind, because after having conversation with her mother she realized what normal people would do after finding worm from the peach. If he asked her and talked to her about it, she may change her mind again then they might build up the close relationship however the father gave up on that.
As a father, he has different idea of being a father than other parents. His different idea of parents revealed his unique and individualistic. Normally parents will show their love to their children. It might be hug them, talk to them or kiss them. However the father didnít do any of them. Instead of hug, talk or kiss to the daughter he went to several store to find flawed peach. After talking about the Gaston the daughter wanted to eat the peach which has worm in it so the father went out to get one for her. However the first store he went and bought the peaches didnít have one that has worm in it. So he went to another store to get one. His behavior revealed his love for his daughter, however she will never know about it, because she is too young to know about it and he will never tell about how many store he went to find the flawed peach for her. Also the last scene, he didnít hug her. Instead of hugging her he shook the hands. Hugging is very normal when people leave or express of their love. However the father decided not to hug her even though he loved his daughter. Compare to the mother his express of love is very indirect. The mother said how much she miss the daughter and want her to come back. ďI canít wait to see you, darling. These two days have been like two years to me.Ē (5. 156-157) The daughter would know and feel the motherís love because she express her love directly however the daughter never know fatherís love with how he express his love.
Iím individualist in someway like the father. I donít listen what people say when otherís opinions or ideas are opposite to me. For example, last semester I had group project. We had to research and present about other countriesí employeeís benefit. I thought we need to talk about our project through the e-mail, because I prefer to write an e-mail than actually meeting people and talk about something. And I thought it would be easy to decide who did what and how we were going to collect researches. However other team mates wanted to meet together but I didnít listen. I said strongly we should contact through e-mail. So we talked through the e-mail. But it was very difficult to decide and talk though the e-mail some team mates didnít ever read the e-mail or didnít reply at all or something. So we had to finally meet one day and decide who did what and how we were going to present our researches. After we wasted many days contacting through e-mail because of me, finally we could decide everything in an hour. Actually Iím individualist in many ways, so I brought many troubles. However still Iím individualist in many ways, especially in communication style. People can not accept otherís opinions or ideas that are different than what they think. However it is good if they listen what otherís opinions or ideas are even though what others opinions or ideas are wrong. Then people will learn more of their life.
In conclusion, the story shows the fatherís individualistic. His behavior, communication style and idea of being a father makes him lose chance to have close relationship with his daughter. I think we should not keep our individualistic for not losing our chance to learn more in our life. But sometimes we need to keep our individualistic to have our unique view point of issues.