Tobias Wolff’s “Powder”

 1992
o The Night in Question (1996)

 FATHER:
o 48
o separated from wife & son
o thrill-seeker
o desperate to spend time with his son (on Christmas Eve)
o fight to spend some time with him
o sneaked boy into Jazz club (get him to experience the world)
o (see Jazz music below)

POSITIVE NEGATIVE
 thrill-seeker, adventurous  thrill-seeker
 spontaneous  spontaneous
 reckless, dangerous  reckless, dangerous
 no respect for time, schedules  no respect for time, schedules

 fights to spend time with his son  childish, a man-child

o on Christmas Eve  irresponsible (breaks promises)
 tries to expose his son to different experiences  “bankrupt of honor”
o Jazz music  false report to police
o skiing
o driving in snow
 trying to get back together wife his wife (family)
 spontaneous, improvisational (Jazzy)
 teacher:
o to take chances/risks
o to make your own path, follow your own
road
o to have no fear of life (son’s OCD)
o sacrifice, fatherhood (“self-sacrificing
love”) –
 tries to teach the son
 at the expense of losing wife

 BOY:
o narrator (distant from the event)
o rather be with mother
o worrier
o sullen, resentful, rather be elsewhere, not appreciating the time
o different at END –
 new respect for his father
 (skill, sense of adventure, dedication to son/marriage, fatherhood)
o OCD:
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
numbered hangers, homework in advance

fears the unexpected, spontaneity

must plan everything ahead of time

(gets it from his mother)
 Could it also be a result of his parents’ separation, fighting, pending divorce????
 THEIR MARRIAGE:
o opposites attract
o father = free-wheeling
o mother = strict, careful, orderly
o relationship is doomed
 Billy Joel’s “A Room of Our Own”
o separation/divorce = difficult for children

 CHRISTMAS:
o setting (wintertime - snow)
o plot (to get the boy home for Christmas Eve)
o characterization (father’s motivation, pain of separation/desperation)
o traditions (vs. obligations)
o changing times (fathers separated from sons at Christmas, fighting to spend time)
o theme (self-sacrificing parent, father separated from son, father’s gift of love)
o no room in the inn for the father
o father’s gift = skiing, burger – take risks

 END:
o change in son
 respect for father
 roadblock = symbol
 blocking the road to the boy’s relationship with his father
 in moving it, he symbolically crosses or removes a barrier/obstruction
 change = he can then begin to admire his father's skill and finesse, to enjoy the ride, the
adventure, … the excitement of living without complete foreknowledge and planning.
 He eventually understands that there is something beautiful about not knowing
exactly where you are going—the adventure of life

THEMES

 FATHER’S CHRISTMAS PRESENT:

o (besides skiing, burger, joy ride)
o father’s message/theme:
o risk, chance
o make your own path, follow your own road
o no fear of life (son’s OCD)
o sacrifice
o fatherhood

 DUALITY:
o fear & awe – driving in snow
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o fear & respect – a son for father
o separation of mother & father:
 divided allegiance
 divided time
 2 different personalities, rules
 comfort zone (home) vs. obligation (w/father)
 tradition (Christmas Eve tradition) vs. obligation
 risk vs. reward
 risk son’s safety
 for reward of 2nd chance at marriage

 SACRIFICE
o to get him home for a second chance at the marriage
o “self-sacrificing love”:
 “Clod & Pebble”
 “Parable of Prodigal Son”
 “Powder”

 FATHERHOOD:
o “self-sacrificing love”
o indirect teaching
 not dogmatic, preaching, lecturing
 teach through experience
 experiential learning
 teach through failure
o had to “fight for the privilege of my company”
 castrated fathers of 1990s-2000s
 sperm donors
 child support
 BUT no time with their children
 TEACHING:
o indirect teaching
 not dogmatic, preaching, lecturing
 teach through experience
 experiential learning
 teach/learn through failure

 MARRIAGE:
o opposites attract
 father = free-wheeling
 mother = strict, careful, orderly
o such relationships = doomed
o separation/divorce = difficult for children

 TITLE:
o powder = symbol
o soft
o fresh snow – freshness, purity, unspoiled
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o make your own road/path in life
o no fear (of life, of unknown, of danger)
o risk vs. reward
o fresh as in new beginnings
o fresh coat, as in covering up of the old tracks, old habits, and offering an opportunity to lay down
new tracks (new beginnings)

SYMBOLISM

 SNOW:
o visible obstruction:
 “blinding”
 can’t see what’s ahead
 the unknown
 can’t plan for it

 POWDER:
o soft
o fresh, unspoiled, purity
o fresh as new beginnings
 new relationship w/father
o fresh coat
 covering old tracks (past), old habits, old feelings
 opportunity to lay down new tracks, forge new relationships
o good grip for driving
o make your own way
o challenging but rewarding skiing
 relationship with father
 risk vs. reward

 ROAD BLOCK
o physical obstruction = emotional obstruction
o between father & son
o physically removed
o leads to removal of emotional barrier
 blocking the road to the boy’s relationship with his father
 in moving it, he symbolically crosses or removes a barrier/obstruction
 change =
 he can then begin to admire his father's skill and finesse,
 to enjoy the ride, the adventure, … the excitement of living without complete
foreknowledge and planning.
 admires his father’s dedication, desperation … in a losing cause
 He eventually understands that there is something beautiful about not knowing
exactly where you are going—the adventure of life

 JAZZ:
o symbol for the father
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 spontaneity, improvisation
 no planning, no order, no rules/order
 TM
 spontaneity, originality
 possible mental disease
 undeserved charges lead to recklessness
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THELONIOUS MONK
o (October 10, 1917-February 17, 1982)
o pianist, composer
o commercial success = late-1950s to1960s
o eccentric behavior 
 causes problems in public
 (several arrests)
 Did undeserved (trumped-up, racially motivated) charges
prompt/cause behavior?
o unspecified/undiagnosed mental illness ??
 bipolar disorder or schizophrenia
o musically = an original, unique
 Jazz, bebop
 improvisational style
o “’Round Midnight”
o “Blue Monk”
o “Straight, No Chaser”
o “Epistrophy”

CONNECTIONS to OTHER STORIES

 FATHERHOOD:
o “Powder”
o “Prodigal Son”
o had to “fight for the privilege of my company”
 castrated fathers of 1990s-2000s
 sperm donors
 child support
 BUT no time with their children

 EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING:
o indirect teaching; not dogmatic, preaching, lecturing
o teach/learn through experience; teach/learn through failure
o “Powder”
o “Prodigal”
o “Clod & Pebble”
o “Say Yes”

 MARRIAGE:
o “Powder”
o “Say Yes”
o “Clod & Pebble”
o “Story of an Hour”
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o “Cat in the Rain”
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QUESTIONS
1. Duality:
 Father –
o What are the negative aspects of the father?
o What are the positive aspects of the father?
 Son -
o What are the conflicting feelings the son feels for his father?
o What are the diametrically opposed feeling proved in the son by the father’s driving in
the snow?
o How might the separation affect the son – conflicting feelings, opposite personalities,
different set of rules,….

2. OCD:
 Why is the son a worrisome, insecure, obsessively planning?
 From does he get this trait…Why?
 Does the separation have any bearing on this trait?
3. The phone call
 Who does the father call?
 Find textual evidence to support.
4. What’s the connection to the father with Jazz music & Thelonious Monk in particular?
5. What does this piece have to say, thematically, about the following:
 Fatherhood
 Marriage
 Divorce (on children)
6. What is the father’s message (theme) to his son?
7. What role does Christmas play in the story (setting, theme, traditions, plot/purpose)
8. What is the father’s Christmas gift to his son?
9. Ending –
 How is the son different at the end of the story than he is throughout?
10. Title –
 What is the significance of the title?
 What relationship does it play to plot, setting, characterization, & theme?