RELATIONSHIPS and CHARACTERS in Romulus, My Father.

CHARACTER NOTES:

Romulus

Man of suffering:
Suffered greatly as predicted by the fortune teller
The composer sees his suffering as some sort of rite of passage in which he was ennobled. (see above)

“People argue about whether suffering ennobles”. There is another and different thought, which is that suffering makes one wise”…”Some kinds of wisdom, however – the kinds that show themselves not only in thoughts, but in the integrity of an authoritatively lived life – are given only to those who have suffered deep and long.” His affliction gave authority to much of what my father said, gave power to his language, rich in peasant imagery, and spared his harsh moral judgment from any tinge of moralism…” pg 172

Acts on principles
Man who sought to follow principles; “fierce moralist”…”about simple moral requirements such as honest and concern for one’s neighbour” pg 172
- valued conversation;

- language used presents as playful akin to a cheeky schoolboy, not intentionally hurtful; “The ingenuity that had fuelled his paranoia also informed his wit, which was often mischievous and nourished by natural imagery” -p173
- integrated somewhat into the community

- seemingly self-sacrificing or at least highly dutiful to his family:
“My father would walk up to eighty kilometers for a litre of milk”…”he fainted from hunger on more than one occasion” - p9

Has an unswerving commitment to truth
(speaking to Raimond) “…you must not lie. That is worse than any damage you might do. Even if you burn the house down, you must tell me the truth. If you do there will be no future trouble.’ “ –p50
A weakness however, may be his tendency to believe that others hold the same principles as himself. For Romulus, these principles cannot and should not be broken

- offers to help Mitru, the man living with his wife and does not retaliate after being hit by him (pg 87)

“…he told me that there are few things more important than a good name.” pg 99

Man of contradictions and complexity:

- he is a master craftsman in beautiful wrought iron craftsmanship yet despises the appreciation of things based on appearance alone;
“His detestation of superficialities extended not only to his appearances, but also to decorations and furnishings in the house.” -p171
“Though my father had made many beautiful objects, his pleasure in being able to make them was curiously detached from an appreciation of their beauty”…”He was interested in the craftsmanship, but not in the beauty achieved by it.” Pg 175

- He seeks to assist his wife but in doing so, probably enables her horribly dysfunctional lifestyle as well as the extra marital affair with his former close friend.
- seeks to live by principle and morals yet can carry out extremes in behaviour;
“…his sense of what mattered did not come from conversion to a doctrine of any sort. All his life he had a strong sense of moral reality and with it a belief in the connection between goodness and simplicity.” Pg 171

Follows principles fiercely but in doing so, violates other even more important and serious principles;
- when perceiving the council as corrupt, “he went to the council chambers with his chainsaw and banged it on the bench declaring that he might cut off the heads of all the councilors, with one exception.”

 Mad (deeply psychologically disturbed):
- His father, Romulus, has consistently held onto his errant wife as an attachment figure thus still aligning himself with her abhorrent behaviour – perhaps an unconscious reason for supporting her and even bizarrely her lover, financially during her affairs.
This is shown in his refusal to divorce her as well as his continued ‘passion’/madness within romantic relationships.
“Mitru’s suicide and my father’s madness had convinced me that sexual love was a passion whose force and nature was mysterious and that anyone who came under its sway should be