Character Analysis
A Father By Any Other Name
Pops is Will's father's father—a.k.a. his grandfather—but since Will's parents are dead, Pops has stepped into the dad role for our main man. Since Will is overwhelmed with grief and anger about his father, though, he has a complicated relationship with the man who calls him son. Especially when Will lays into Pops with doozies like, "I'm not your son" (1326), which leads to whole big argument about fathers and sons.
Pops is old school (as grandpas tend to be), a bit stoic, and definitely more comfortable biting his tongue than expressing his feelings. Sound like anyone we know? Yeah, we thought of Will, too. But anyway. Will's inability to stop feeling the hurt he faces is difficult for Pops, whose suck-it-up-and-get-on-with-your-life attitude has kept his feelings tucked neatly away. And though Will wants to trust him and look up to him, he sees Pops more often as one-dimensional due to his lack of open feeling. Check it out:
Pops's face is a granite sculpture, dignified lifeless rendering of one of those great Greek philosophers who knew everything but never really existed. (737)
For Will, who wallows, Pops's behavior doesn't make sense—it's unrecognizable. So though Pops may have taken him in and call him son, there's a whole lot of distance between these two.
It's a Guy Thing
Will finally tells Pops how he's "damnably hard to talk to" (1341), and in saying this, opens the door for conversation, which is sorely missing in their relationship. Pops is capable of change, and shows this when he reaches out to Will emotionally and reminds him that everyone needs a little help from time to time.
When Will and Pops are able to be brutally honest with each other, to ask for help and to offer it in turn, each of them are on their way to becoming a different man. In the end Pop has the winning words. "Yes," he admits, "I may damnably hard to talk to. But you have to try, don't you? Isn't that the thing? That you have to try?" (1347). Why yes, Pops—trying really is what it comes down to. And in acknowledging this, Pops models for Will how to reconsider personal patterns and entertain the idea of relating to the world around you anew. And that, Shmoopers, is a model Will sorely needs.