The Harness

A detailed Summary of The Harness

"The Harness", written by Ernest Buckler is a short story written by a Canadian author. It is a story about a boy and his father. The young boy and his father don't have a regular father-son relationship. At the beginning of the story their relationship is more like they are pals and the father treats his son as an adult. After a series of events, a normal father-son relationship begins to form at the end of the story.

This story can be discussed on two different levels. It can be discussed on the narrative level because Art is telling the story, and the psychological level because the father is trying to understand his son.

There were two characters in the story. The father, Art, is a hard working man, who has trouble showing his emotion. He lost his wife at his son's birth, and was left to his son by himself since. He isn't a bad father, but has trouble acting like a good one. He loves his son and wants him to act responsibly. The son, David, is a fairly average kid, who likes to play with his ball and glove. His mother died at his birth so he has lacked having a maternal figure in his life. He is starved for attention because his father doesn't pay enough attention to

The story slowly develops as we learn about the characters relationship as father and son. We learn a lot about David from Art's point of view. After Art finishes describing a few experiences he had with David, he begins to talk about a time when they went fencing together. We begin to see how they have an adult relationship, "...good company, in adult way." (Ernest Buckner. 1966. 140). They discover some horse bones. The bones visibly disturb David as he gets Art to hold his hand as they continue down the path. They started fencing and worked until they once again within sight of the skeleton. Art told David to rest and later when he called for him he was gone. He rushed back to the farm in search of him. When he found him at home he didn't say much to him, "I ignored him and walked past him into the house." (Ernest Buckner. 1966. 141). When Art went back out to do the fence he told David to stay at home. He couldn't work very fast as he kept thinking about David. When he got back, he found that David had fallen off the roof. David was fine, "The doctor could scarcely find a bruise on him."(Ernest Buckner. 1966. 145). Art asked David to go fence with him again and this time he didn't want to. Art said that he needed his help and David reluctantly decided to go. David illustrated that he didn't want to go by breaking a string of staples all over the place. Art spanked David and sent him home to bed. The turning point in the story came when David said, "Bones make you feel funny, don't they, Art?" (Ernest Buckner. 1966. 146). This is when Art finally realized that the reason David ran home the other day and the reason he broke the staples was because he was frightened of the bones. They apologized to each other and when Art apologized for spanking David, David says, "You spank me every time I do that, won't you, Dad?...spank me, Dad." (

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1258
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous