Houston, Sophomore Year (pp. 109-111) Summary

Steve and Dub become publicly known as a couple. One night Dub queries Steve about his negative feelings for his father. Steve states that he does not like his father for several reasons; his father is an unrelenting perfectionist, his father is distant and uninvolved, and most of all because his father somehow damaged his mother and then divorced her. Dub persists in questioning Steve even as he becomes more agitated. After a while Steve abruptly breaks off the conversation.

Houston, Sophomore Year (pp. 109-111) Analysis

Steve feels that his parents' divorce was entirely the fault of his father. In Steve's view, Cindy sacrificed her youth and desires to ensure Alan's success and, once successful, Alan repaid her by divorcing her. Steve takes some satisfaction in noting that his mother married a commercial airline pilot...