Part 2, Peace and Solitude: a Potpourri, Chapters 10-12 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 10, "Bringing Up Father, begins with the thorny question of teaching children to behave. By example is impossible for harassed parents and teachers. Jesus would have spoken differently had he had children. Miller's favorite bootblack in Monterey is also a Baptists preacher, who sees making children in one's own image through education a sin against Nature. When Miller's children ask difficult questions, he thinks about Rev. Greenwall and admits that he does not know the answer. There is an infinite gap between knowledge and truth, and schools are an expedient for dispensing knowledge and discipline. Miller recalls being disciplined—thrashed—only once, by his reluctant father at his mother's request. As a father, Miller does not beat the children enough to suit folks in Big...