The Real Gabby Hayes Essay Research Paper

In the Sam Shepard’s Short Story “The Real Gabby Hayes” we follow his relationship with his father. In the beginning of the story Shepard shows mixed feelings of emotion towards his father. He has a mutual respect for him, but at the same time feels hurt at some of the things his dad says about his mother. He does not hate his father but he does feel confused about the way his father presents himself. He loves his father, and is trying extremely hard to build a relationship with his father and to also understand him. In the story the father and son talk, and hang out together, but there are some things his dad says that disappoints and hurts Shepard. There are certain things that his father says about Shepard’s mom that makes him feel very hurt and disappointed. His father says that he wants to move to the Mojave Desert without any woman including Shepard’s mom. These are some hurtful words for a seven-year-old child to imagine his mom not being around.

In the beginning of the story Shepard shows a lot of respect for his father. When his father snapped or got upset Shepard always tried to stay out of his way or find a way to get him out of his mood. Shepard and his father do not have trouble communicating with one another, although at times Shepard felt intimidated and scared of his father. But other than that they talked to each other as if they were each other’s friend. Their communication is very clean and respectful because they are very open to each other and they interact unselfishly. Shepard cares and loves his father; but their relationship was very different than any usual son and father relationship. They go out to places where a father and son could spend good quality time together. In my opinion Shepard’s father was very inconsiderate to his son because he was only a child at the time and some of the things he said was too much for a child of his age. It is obvious that they have no hateful feelings towards each other but they do not have much respect for each other, which is something that is crucial for a father and son relationship.

Later in the story Shepard shows mixed feelings towards his father. However he still mildly respects him, but is saddened and hurt about some of the things he says about his mother. The love for his dad will not go away but he is disappointed at the way he speaks about his mom. Shepard feels that his father is a very hard person and is selfish, he seems to only care about himself and what is going on in his life. The reason he feels this way about his dad is because he didn’t show much attention to him and he would get upset at him for asking a question. He wishes that his father would be more open minded and revealing to him. When Shepard felt hurt about the things his dad did or said, he ignored him and did not say a word to him. I felt that this was a very unhealthy sign that he kept a lot of his feelings bottled up. Ironically that is also a sign of respect for a father, because other kids would back talk and curse at their fathers.

At the end of the story they forget about the good and the bad, and were speaking to each other like they would normally do. They were together living life, feeling the weather and still feeling love for each other. He hung out with his father like every kid likes to hang out with their father. It’s just a type of situation that a father and son would normally do. To Shepard, letting go of the past helped him to build a better relationship with his father. During this time alone they could have collected some thoughts and talked about each others feelings.

In conclusion to the story, no matter what his father said or meant they still ended up having respect for each other. Shepard’s attitude and mind cleaned up and went about his business.