Part III: Father Summary and Analysis

In "Saturday Autumn I," Peter explains that he and his father went to every Columbia football game possible together. Gerard, his father, grew up watching Columbia after he and his family arrived in the US when he was five, and he grew to love America because of it. Peter remembers one day when his father, on arriving at the stadium, ran to help a man having a heart attack, and Peter notes this is the first time he understood his father in a public sense, as a physician. After the game, he reminds his son that he has to be "tough as nails." As they drive home, Peter is filled with questions about death, and about how his father can be so relaxed after such an event.

"Istanbul Was Constantinople" begins with Peter's admission that he and...