In The Duke of Deception, Geoffrey Wolff took on the task of justifying the lies that created a barrier between family, friends, and the general public. His memories from his childhood are disturbing, jaw-dropping, and tangled with guilt. The memoir begins with Geoffrey Wolff learning of his father’s death in 1970. With this knowledge, Wolff revealed the enigma that was his father to himself, and the readers. The book overall is part of a memoir, autobiography, and even part biography for Arthur Samuel (Duke) Wolff, Geoffrey’s father.
Ten years after the appearance of Geoffrey Wolff’s The Duke of Deception, Tobias Wolff published This Boy’s Life which was a memoir about his childhood living with his mother. To begin with, his mother (Rosemary) headed to Utah in order to make their fortune by mining Uranium. Once they arrived in Utah, Tobias decided to change his name to Jack, in …show more content…
In addition to this, Arthur also taught Geoffrey how “to shoot and drive fast and to read respectfully and to box and to handle a boat and to distinguish between good jazz music and bad jazz music (7). To put it another way, Arthur wanted to teach his son how to be a gentleman in the eyes of the public. At first, it seemed like Geoffrey’s father, Arthur was a man of deception by lying, stealing, and manipulating others. On the other hand, the most compelling evidence surfaced when Geoffrey admitted that his father tried to teach him these skills to gain the trust of the community. It appeared that the Duke, wanted to gain Geoffrey’s trust. In addition to this, the Duke also told Geoffrey tales about being schooled at “Groton, and Yale” (8). The Duke also shared stories about serving in the “Royal Air Force,” and being involved in World War II (9). As has been noted earlier on, these stories were told to make a son proud of his father, however, they were all lies, or at best, half
Ten years after the appearance of Geoffrey Wolff’s The Duke of Deception, Tobias Wolff published This Boy’s Life which was a memoir about his childhood living with his mother. To begin with, his mother (Rosemary) headed to Utah in order to make their fortune by mining Uranium. Once they arrived in Utah, Tobias decided to change his name to Jack, in …show more content…
In addition to this, Arthur also taught Geoffrey how “to shoot and drive fast and to read respectfully and to box and to handle a boat and to distinguish between good jazz music and bad jazz music (7). To put it another way, Arthur wanted to teach his son how to be a gentleman in the eyes of the public. At first, it seemed like Geoffrey’s father, Arthur was a man of deception by lying, stealing, and manipulating others. On the other hand, the most compelling evidence surfaced when Geoffrey admitted that his father tried to teach him these skills to gain the trust of the community. It appeared that the Duke, wanted to gain Geoffrey’s trust. In addition to this, the Duke also told Geoffrey tales about being schooled at “Groton, and Yale” (8). The Duke also shared stories about serving in the “Royal Air Force,” and being involved in World War II (9). As has been noted earlier on, these stories were told to make a son proud of his father, however, they were all lies, or at best, half