A Silver Dish

This story deals with death and how to accept. The story is told through the eyes of Woody who's father is terminally ill. He speaks of the good times and bad times with his father, ultimately wanting to remember those good times. The story centers around the stealing of the silver dish. Woody attended a seminary school and he was an ok student. He was expelled for stealing a silver dish, but wait for it, he didn't steal it. It was his father who stole it. Woody was outraged when his father stole the dish; they fought over whether to return it or not. Woody thought he had convinced his father to return the dish, but he was later questioned about the missing dish and was expelled. He went to his father and his father simply told him that he had pawned it. If he wanted it back, then he would have to go buy it back. Saul Bellow then takes the reader back to present day where Woody's father is laying in his death bed. He is fighting the treatments they are giving him with everything he has. He is pulling out tubes and IV's. Woody is so concerned about his father that he lays directly on top of him to restrain him from doing these things. While Woody is holding his father, he dies in his arms.

Did anyone else think of the silver dish as a fountain pen? Death of A Salesman? In DOAS, Biff Loman was the high school football star. Everyone loved him, but he was a bit of a clepto. He was supposed to go to college and play football but was not able to go. He instead goes to interview for a job, and when the interview is not successful Biff steals an expensive fountain pen. In Silver Dish, It was not the disappointing son that stole something, but instead the disappointing father. Both of these stories are centered around the idea that we love people despite their flaws. We are only given one family in this world. Sometimes families don't get along, but they are loved despite this fact. There is a saying blood is thicker than water, meaning you have to stick with your own kind. Those who made you are those who are going to stick with you to the end, even if you steal a pen or a silver dish.