Fenstad's Mother

A detailed Summary of Fenstad's Mother

In Fenstad's Mother, by Charles Baxter, character is a very essential element to the story. The main character, Harry Fenstad, is a complicated person, but it is his mother, Mrs. Clara Fenstad, who I feel is a more important and complex person. In this brief paper, I will explain why it is my opinion that both of these characters play a crucial role in the story by complementing and developing each other's character.

Fenstad career is a brochure writer, but he also teaches an extension English-composition class at the downtown campus of the state university. He attends church regularly, and his passion is ice skating. I know that these may seem like simple ways to describe a character I have referred to as complicated, but there is so much more that lies beneath these plain descriptions.

Fenstad says that he likes to teach because "he liked teaching strangers and because he enjoyed the sense of hope that classrooms held for him" (page 117). Harry seems to be a very distant person in that he likes to be around people who do not really know him. He would much rather be an observer than a very active participant. When he goes ice skating in the beginning of the story, there are a lot of people who are ska

characters are is when they are at Country Bob's, a restaurant. A homeless woman comes up to the two and asks if they can spare any change. Mrs. Fenstad instantly feels compassion for the woman and offers her the coat that she is wearing. Fenstad is almost appalled by the audacity of the homeless woman and by his mother's action. He begs his mother not to give her coat to the woman. It is obvious that he is very uncomfortable and disturbed by the situation. He sees his mother's generosity and realizes that that is something he innately lacks. He shoves two twenty dollar bills into the homeless woman's hand as he pleads with her to leave. Fenstad seems to feel disgusted by this woman rather than sorry for her. His mother, on the other hand, sees a person in need, and she wants to do what she can to help. She sacrifices her own comfort and warmth to give those same feelings to another human being. Fenstad is not selfish, but more like most of the people of the world; !

An important element of the story is that the author rarely refers to the characters using their first names. Mrs. Fenstad calls her son "Harry" and Fenstad introduces his mother as "Clara," but when Baxter is telling the story he usually refers to the characters as "Fenstad and his mother". I think this is significant because the reader is able to see more of themselves in the characters. Almost everyone has a little "Fenstad" in them as they also have elements of "Fenstad's mother" in their characters.

(page

Some common words found in the essay are:
Clara Fenstad, Country Bob's, Clara Baxter, Susan Fenstad, African American, Fenstad Follette, Harry Fenstad, York Follette, Charles Baxter, mother clara, fenstad's mother, fenstad feel, page 117, life fenstad, harry fenstad, fenstad mother, fenstad worried, refers characters, ice skating,

Approximate Word count = 1012
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels