GASTON

The short story “Gaston” by William Saroyan is a creative story that portrays the better parts of life of a torn family. The father and the daughter in the story are spending quality bonding time during the frame of the story. What began as just the simple act of a meal of peaches turned into a thoughtful insight of there lives. Throughout the story the concepts of fear love and loss of both the father and his daughter are portrayed through Gaston. The imaginative father plays an important role in the story. He created a life for the bug within the peach that held so much meaning and importance to backbone of the story. Preparing the day with his daughter as she naps he purchases seven peaches for an afternoon snack. While eating the “bad” peach he comes across a bug that has made his home within the seed of the peach. He gives the critter the name “Gaston” and refuses to squash him. I feel that we can relate this situation of the bug to the relationship between the father and his daughter. The fathers fear of losing his daughter and or making her unhappy is very strong. Just in the way he jumps at the fact she wants a bad peach. And finding something good within the bad peach is like finding something good coming out of the divorce situation. The fathers love for his daughter is prominence, we can assume how much he cares for her when he tells her “the important thing is what you want, not what I want” (63). His love for her helps overcome the loss of his family and home. I believe that when he states “the poor fellow hasn’t got a home, and there he is with all that pure design and handsome form, and nowhere to go” (62), he talks about his self. The daughters concept of love grown within the story. Her first reaction to the bug was “ugh” and wanting to squash it. She formed a bond with the critter when her father was around and explained to her how special the bug is.