The Father-Thing

In “The Father-Thing”, you aren’t sure of what’s reality during the first few paragraphs of the story. But as the story progresses, we can come to realize that his “father” really isn’t his father.  We question Charles’ reasoning, but once he brings along his friends who can also see what is going on, we get a better sense of reality. They were also able to find the metal bug that controlled the father-thing, and the mother-thing and Charles-thing too. It’s especially disturbing when they find the remains of his father. It was interesting how the mother was not able to tell right away that something was wrong with her husband, but she sort of catches on later when she remarks that something is wrong and that he’s acting strange. There’s much authorial resistance as Charles just accepts what’s happening and doesn’t question it. Also, his friends seem to know what going on as they say things like “It ain’t dead yet… takes a little while,” and by naming methods to kill the metal bug. This further assures the reader of the reality within the story. Lastly, using mushrooms to describe the cocoons was very fitting as they are decomposers that feed off organic materials, which is exactly what the father-thing did when he killed and ate the real father.