Robert Quick's point of view

The story is told mainly from Robert Quick's point of view. The evidence that he loves his daughters is when the writer says 'He had missed his two small girls and looked forward eagerly to their greeting'. The word 'missed' shows affection of missing someone you love or care about. The fact that he had hoped that they were waiting for them tells me that he missed seeing his daughters and hoped that there emotions where the same. When he thinks he had missed them on driving home he gets worried about it and this shows he cares and loves them.

' The mere presence of the children was a pleasure. Nothing could deprive him of that'.

This tells the readers that he is happy to be home, happy to be with his children. Although the children 'attack' him, he doesn't want to hurt them. 'They were hurting him, and he did not know how to defend himself without hurting them'.

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This also tells the readers that although the children are hurting him he doesn't want to hurt them because he cares for them and loves them, even though they are hurting him he doesn't want to reciprocate and hurt them. He feels disappointed in the children when they don't reply to him when he comes home from work. I know this because he says 'Children have no manners'.

I would think that he said this in a disappointed way. He is angry with his children when they attack both the dog and himself.

I know this because when the children stop being violent towards him, Robert picks himself up and he 'avoided even looking at the girls in case they should she his anger and surprise'. I think Robert Quick was puzzled at the children because they were 'usually so gentle, so affectionate' and they just suddenly when 'completely mad and vindictive'. I think he is also puzzled when later on when his wife comes home, the children behave in a kind and caring manner by helping their mother hand round cakes and bread and butter for the committee.

He is kind and caring towards his mother but a few minutes before they were all aggressive and angry. I think Mr Quick is pleased with t he children when he recollects memories of past years when the children would play games with him. For example when he drives home from work the children hid in a bush. It was like they were playing a hide and seek game with their father. The words the children use that could be seen as hatred towards their father is when they play games. When the children pretend to be cowboys and Indians they want to 'kill him, scalp him. Torture him'. These emotive words are very violent and associate with loathing and disgust of someone or something. The actions that show the girls hate their father are when they pounce on him and tore at him. Jenny 'seizes him by the collar as if to strangle him'.

Strangling someone means to abuse or hurt someone and this can be seen as violent too and is definitely linked with hatred. I think when jenny calls her father 'daddy' is when she shows she loves him. The word daddy is a more childish, loving word to prettify up the word dad. The action that the girl's show to their dad that proves they love him is when they offer to clear up his bite. This shows that the girls care about their father and want him not to be upset. There are words that show that the girls have little respect for him. Instead they ignore him when he comes in and don't greet him as their father but greet him as an 'infectious rodent'. When I say infectious rodent, I think that they feel they don't want to be near it and dismiss that it is there if they could.

The sentence - The garden 'had come to seem, for him, a triumph of imagination... an original masterpiece among gardens', seem to tell me that Robert Quick liked the unusual way that their family is different from the rest. I think Robert Quick likes to be different from his neighbours and colleagues and likes to be unlike other people. 'Quick never asked for affection from his girls. He despised fathers who flirted with their daughters...' This tells the readers that he wanted his children to live their own lives, to build up their own views and emotions about the world and life and not to be influenced by other people's opinions.

'He said to himself: 'Children have no manners but at least they're honest - they never pretend'. Again I think Mr Quick wants his children to not be false. If they have their own opinion they shouldn't be forced to cover it up and take the opinions of others. I think that he thought if his children thought strongly about something that they should stick by their guns and go with how they feel.

'It seemed to him that both children, usually so gentle, so affectionate, had gone completely mad and vindictive'. I think that because Robert doesn't spend much time with his children that he hasn't realised the changes that his daughters have been going through when he is not there that is why he is so surprised at how he thinks they have suddenly changed. He is deluded about what the children are like which causes him to worry about why they have changed so abruptly. 'It seemed to him that... they had suddenly receded from him into a world of their own in which he had no standing...'

This sentence tells me that Robert Quick has realised that his little daughters are no longer little. That they are growing up and living in the real world and that there attitudes and feelings are changing because they realise more about life. Towards the end of the story Mr quick feels uncomfortable around his daughters because they have suddenly changed from being vicious towards him to caring and looking after him when he is hurt. He is uncomfortable around Jenny when she comes back to Robert to check on his cut. He doesn't understand why she is being nice all of a sudden when before her mother arrived she was intent on hurting him.

After Jenny and Kate where 'attacking' their father, Mr Quick wanted to get away from them and to get Mrs Quick. He tries to make excuses and tells the children that 'It's alright'. He feels puzzled towards jenny's behaviour because he doesn't understand why Jenny is acting like this. Why one minute she is cruel and vindictive and the next she is concerned about her father. 'What was the game, medical, maternal? Was she going to laugh?' He then realises that she is just growing up.