Fathers and Sons

The novel begins with Ben talking about an impending visit from his father, the first since the hijacking and the aftermath. Ben says he has been away at boarding school since the September after the hijacking, which would have been just a few weeks after the hijacking. Ben also claims to have been shot, therefore the reader knows some of that time was spent in the hospital. Ben is clearly nervous about this meeting with his father, clearly afraid he has let his father down because he did something wrong during the hijacking. The reader does not learn until late in the novel that Ben feels as though he let his father down because he told the hijackers the time of an impending assault on the bridge under torture.

As the novel continues, the reader learns that Ben's father also feels guilt. Ben's father regrets sending...