This Boy's Life

Tobias Wolff’s self reflective memoir, This Boy’s Life, explores the notion of one’s restless desire for happiness and acceptance as one that is heavily influenced by the sense of belonging to a “real family”. Throughout the memoir, Wolff portrays the idea of a ‘real family’ as one that reflects the typical 1950s nuclear family figure through his emphasis of Rosemary’s ‘flight’ to find a providing husband. Similarly, through highlighting Jack’s eagerness to “transform” himself into the boy he longs to be, Wolff emphasises the importance of familial social status and success. Additionally, through the constant mention of Dwight’s abusive and deceptive nature, Wolff ultimately emphasises that in reality, the ‘real’ family that Jack and Rosemary “set out to imitate does not exist in nature” and that often, family life can prove to be detrimental to ones wellbeing.

Throughout This Boy’s Life, Wolff’s representation of family life parallels the idyllic notion of the ‘nuclear family’ of the 1950s era. Through Wolff’s portrayal of Rosemary as a single mother in desperate search of the perfect husband, he implies that the ‘real family’ Jack and Rosemary “set out to imitate” was one which was supported by a male father figure. Rosemary’s desperate “flight” and “dream” of finding the perfect husband is evident through her countless relationships with the “wrong men”, in particular, Roy and Dwight.

Despite the abuse Rosemary suffers as both her partners assert their authority and power, she tolerates it, emphasising the extent to which Rosemary will tolerate abuse in order to obtain the image of the “conventional” family she “dreams” of. On a deeper level, Rosemary’s tolerance of abuse and mistreatment by Roy and Dwight also reflects on Wolff’s interpretation of the underlying representation of culture and lifestyle of the 1950s era and the way in which women were