This is a story about the impact of relationships on a young adolescent boy who is starting to enter the world of adulthood. Les grows up only knowing the idealized version of his father that his mother has told him. His mother spends her time watching T.V. or waitressing in town. This leaves sixteen-year-old Les to spend much of his free-time by himself. He spends his free-time boxing, a hobby that his father pursued when he was alive. When Glen Baxter enters Les’ life, he views his mother’s boyfriend as a father-figure despite the fact that they have never been alone together. Les craves the attention of Glen because he craves a father-figure. Les has not had a man, or even a woman, to show him how he should act and what a man should look like. This desperation leads him to idealize Glen. The events that took place when Glen and Les went hunting still affect Les 25 years later. Ford hints that Les could have gone to college and done more with his life had he had the proper influences guiding him. He was a boy with lots of potential and no knowledge of how to access it. Instead, he listened to the stories about his father and followed in the mythological footsteps of a man he knew nothing about.
I wonder a bit about this statement: “Les has not had a man, or even a woman, to show him how he should act and what a man should look like.” Has his mother not attempted to guide him, to teach him “how he should act”?