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Unnamed Father (Gold) Blog Entry |
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May 2, 2025, 12:00:10 AM 5/2/25: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." This week's characters from my anthro WWII storyline are Unnamed Father and Unnamed Uncle. The first is Gold Rat's estranged father (he basically relinquishes custody of him as a child) and the second is Teal Rat's uncle (he raises Teal after his mother gives him up). They're both not terribly nice people, though they aren't monsters either, just really lousy with kids. There'll be more about them later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se. Regarding their design, Gold's father has shaded/bloodshot eyes as he has a problem with drinking, while Teal resembles his uncle more than his mother or father. TUMBLR EDIT: Individual entries beyond this point. The majority of info about the relationship between Gold Rat (real first name Arthur) and his father is in Gold Rat's entry and in Amelia de Groot's entry. (Take note that certain details, such as some specifics in the train-top confrontation between Gold, Ratdog, and Schavitz, are out of date.) I don't know much about Gold's father or his history, though I can say his drinking is even more of an issue than Georg Klemper's; at least Georg has his sober moments, especially while working, and based on how much his temperament changes when he's drunk, I feel he never really learns to "tolerate" alcohol. Gold's father is...pretty much always drunk, just to varying degrees, and apparently adept enough at coping with it that he can somewhat function on the job. I'm assuming it's some blue-collar job, probably drudging factory work, as he's only at home in the evenings and at night. He and young son Arthur are on their own, so his wife must die when their son is very young, as Gold later has hardly any memory of her. She doesn't die in childbirth, so maybe she's sick. This is perhaps what triggers her husband's alcoholism, though I'm not 100% sure. There's a comparison here between this family and the Himmel family; Otto Himmel's wife dies in childbirth and he's left to raise his mentally disabled son, Kolten, on his own, while Gold's father is left to raise the "stupid" (dyslexic) Arthur alone. Kolten is forcibly taken away by the state and Himmel fights tooth and nail for years to try to get him back. Arthur is removed from his father's custody and placed in a group home after his abusive father beats him badly enough to blacken his eyes...yet his father makes no effort to get him back. Even if he dearly loved his wife (I'm not sure yet), for some reason, that love doesn't seem to extend to their son. Or...? In Gold's entry I mention how his father is likely glad to be rid of a problem child, an extra mouth to feed. Yet maybe it's more complex than that. Another comparison can be made, here with Ratdog/Adel, who is also prone to drunkenness and some time after a one-night stand finds himself unexpectedly saddled with a baby. Adel doesn't want a kid. He has no idea how to raise one. In fact, his first reaction is to flee, leaving the baby alone, to try to find a female neighbor to help him figure out what to do. He makes LOTS of mistakes in the following weeks--including accidentally slicing his son's ear open when he throws a fit and hurls a bottle at the wall--yet...gradually, he finds himself experiencing the same feelings Himmel does, and ends up willing to do anything for his son. He never fully recovers from the boy's death a few years later. I find myself wondering if Gold's father ever experiences something similar, if he's relieved to be rid of Arthur not only because it's less hassle to deal with, but because he figures his son is better off in other hands, hands more capable of dealing with such things than his. He's not father material--same as Adel--but that doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't love his son. Some people just aren't emotionally equipped to handle such things. Maybe he never goes to reclaim his son as he knows Arthur stands a much better chance somewhere else, away from him. This of course doesn't excuse his abuse--same as Georg Klemper--but I doubt many people set out wanting to hurt the ones they supposedly love. Gold's father probably wouldn't treat him the way he does if not for the alcohol. He still wouldn't be a particularly great father, he just wouldn't be as lousy at it. This is hinted at when Gold--now grown and ready to ship out to Germany--and he run into each other on the street and share a few words. By now, he's largely lost interest in drinking, but is simply burnt out and worn out; he lives alone and in poverty, retired if you could call it that, nothing left to do but sit in a shabby chair in a shabby room by a shabby radio, eat a small meal by himself, and go to sleep in a shabby bed. He's perplexed by this young, bright-eyed soldier who greets him out of nowhere and expresses interest in talking to him--nobody ever talks to him--and he's so rusty at it that he barely knows what to say, though he tries, if only to force himself to be a bit polite. The chatty soldier does most of the talking anyway. He hates the look that comes to the soldier's eyes the longer they speak; the friendliness--and something else?--shifts to uncertainty, then sadness--it looks like pity. Why should a total stranger pity him? He bites down his bitterness and self-loathing, makes himself remain polite, and a moment or so later they amicably part ways. He tries not to scowl too hard as he trudges home, unsuccessfully attempting to put the odd experience out of his head. It isn't until he's sitting down at the tiny kitchen table for his solitary supper that he realizes what was that unknown something else he saw in the soldier's eyes when he greeted him--hope. Uneasy, anxious hope, but hope nonetheless. It's been so long since he's felt it himself, of course he wouldn't immediately recognize it in someone else. And as soon as he finds himself wondering why a stranger would be hopeful on meeting him, he realizes the soldier was no stranger. The eyes, the face, a younger, more vibrant, more alive version of himself. He stood on the street for several moments having a conversation with his own son, and he didn't even know who he was. He doesn't feel angry or upset or anything like that. Same as Gold had felt on realizing how small and miserable and lonely his life is now, all he feels is drained and sad. He stares across the little table as he eats, at the spot where his son would be sitting if they hadn't parted the way they had, if he hadn't given up on him and given him up. He knows Gold is better off, is likely a better person having grown up without him in his life...yet he still feels empty inside, and probably wishes things could have been different. I don't know if he makes any changes for the better or not in the remains of his life. Maybe Gold's success moves him to do something, maybe he's too far gone. I do know that he never meets his son again. [Unnamed Father (Gold) 2025 [Friday, May 2, 2025, 12:00:10 AM]] |