if he were to disappear from the world of writing. Although I could not get a hold of this book, from what I read about it, it was a very vivid memoir which unlike other wartime stories, contained information and experiences from a writer who actually was there, in Vietnam, who experienced the hard times of war.In the short story Powder by Tobias Wolff, there is a boy and his father, and they are sort of stranded out in the wilderness due to a snow storm, and the father keeps asking his kid questions like we’re gonna make it home, right? And other questions to give the kid confidence in his father. The kid kept responding with ‘umm yeah,’ and saying yes in an unsure way, like he didn’t have confidence in his father bringing him home safely. This ties in with the autobiography This Boys Life in which Tobias Wolff talks about his life, his father and how he began to lose faith in his father during his childhood years. I think that the short story Powder was actually about him and his father’s relationship, and how Tobias lost faith in his father like it said in This Boys Life. Tobias Wolff’s father was also very forceful, in having things done his way, and him trying to manipulate Tobias into doing things that he wanted. His father said to him: “Your brother tells me you’re thinking of Choate, Personally, I think you’d be happier at Deerfield.” Tobias replied: “Well I just applied, Maybe I won’t get in.” (Wolff, T; Boys life 210) This shows how the father, not only was he forceful, but he made his son Tobias scared of him, in wanting to go to a different school that his father wants him to go to. The way that Tobias responded “Maybe I wont get in” gives me this impression, and also gives his father the impression that he really doesn’t want to go to Choate. Another thing I found interesting was the way that Tobias and his brother would respond ...
