My Father's Mask Analysis

The short story “My Father’s Mask by Joe Hill will leave your brain clueless, muddled and disturbed. The events that occur with the chubby boy in night-gown, the playing card people and the two kids in the forest will have you wondering where they fit in place of the narrative. It also raises an eyebrow to question the fixation the parents have with masks and the significance of it. However with such perplexity while reading and analyzing the story as a few question has arisen for me to ask; the first question is why is the dad acting weird around his wife? The second question is who the two children in the forest are and my last question is why does Jack put his father 's mask on? With these questions, I will give you answers and other variation …show more content…
His mother suggests that he can take off his mask she states “Unless you like wearing it. Do you like wearing it” (Hill). Jack confused by the question looks in the passenger mirror in the car and analyzes the appearance of the crystal clear mask his dad worn and he puts the mask on his face accepting the mask he wears. The symbol of him putting on or keeping on the mask was him accepting to forget about his father in a way that seemed oddly easy for him and his mom. She helped him forget by saying let’s play a game, she made up by saying that his father never existed and he left when he was just a baby (Hill). She asked Jack “Can you even remember what he did for a living” Jack realizes he really doesn 't know what he does and guesses insurance (Hills). Showing that the game was starting to work you can tell that Jack was completely forgetting about the existence of his father. Jack putting on the mask at the end also symbolizes of him taking his place. As we can inference that what is happening is that the father is giving up his life for his family to have a good life. For the playing cards people have come for them but in order for his son and his wife to be safe, he sacrifices his own life for them. This part is very significant and puts a better understanding of things because back then the playing cards people were kind of like a mystery to the little boy but when it all becomes to revelation to the little …show more content…
And also, why these questions have left me questioning on the reality of the world and of the fantasy realm. During the whole trip, his mom was trying to make her son put on the masks but finally at the end when the she told him to put on the mask of his father he finally does. Mostly because he accepts that it 's from his father. I find it so odd how the mother was so accepting towards another woman being affectionate to the husband and letting her do flirtations things to him which was the playing cards people or the appraiser. This made me want to believe maybe she had no choice but to let her husband sacrifice his life for the sake of herself and the son. Because I believe the appraiser killed the grandfather and now they were after them. Which led them to the cabin where they spent their last moments together. Joe hill grabs the audience attention by making them purposely confused and wanting them to figure out the true meaning of his work. “My Father’s Mask” captures the uncertainty of what a young child goes through in the world of imagination. This story really makes a person go back and read it more than once just to get a better, deeper meaning of what 's going on and to gain a better explanation for things that is happening around the main character. The fact that I didn 't understand the reading at first but it didn