The shocking thing

[lochfyne]

The shocking thing about this story is that it is supposedly based on a real life story which James heard tell.
A real life Catherine..........too dreadful to think about.

[Gladys]

'The shocking thing', to my mind, is that such alienation between parent and adult child is commonplace. And so often, as in ‘Washington Square', alienation results from some random, benign and minor misunderstanding between two people.

Many of us, like Dr. Sloper and Catherine, judge too quickly and are loathe to reconsider the one-in-twenty judgement that is flawed. So it was that the steadfast Dr. Sloper judged his daughter as a child, and the adamant Catherine judged her beloved father when affronted by the inadvertent slur, "Did you get it from Mr. Townsend?"

Under the pressure of bereavement, father judges child; under the pressure of misguided love, daughter judges father. Both judge for life, and both are tragically mistaken in their judgement. The consequences for both, and for many of us, are dreadful.

Two lives wrecked. For what?