Analysis Of Masculinity In Tom Perrotta's Little Children

For one thing, after the incident in the boarding room with Elena, Bernal goes through a phase of mental regression. For the next couple of years it seems like he does not provide for himself, and even leaves his singing career. In the text it states that “He never accompanied his wife when she visited his stepdaughter, and he never ask about her,” (Allende, 1989). He is her legal guardian because he married the mother. Yet, the shame of the event stops him from going. This is form of regression, because he does not want to meet Elena and at least address the situation. He retreats to a place that is easy for him to deal with the situation in his own mind. The best thing for both of them would be to gain a certain level of closure. Bernal is not composing himself like an adult or a father. On the contrary, Bernal regresses his fatherly side as a result of this incident that took place.

This means that a man does not always have complete control of their mental state. It is almost like readers are supposed to sympathize with Bernal’s situation. According to Elizabeth Gough who writes in her article name Vision and Division: Voyeurism in the Works of Isabel Allende that “These scenes, memorable for the way they elicit our empathy toward the voyeurs and create an underlying tone of painful nostalgia in the work,” (Gough,