Tiny Smiling Daddy
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I chose to write about Mary Gaitskill's story, "Tiny, Smiling, Daddy." In this story the
father learned from a friend that his daughter had written an article in "Self" Magazine about
fathers and daughters talking to each other. He was horrified at the idea that she had written an
article about him without his knowledge. To make matters worse, his wife was gone with the car
and he had no way of getting to a store to get a copy of the article.
It is interesting to me that the author chose the name "Stew" for the father because he
spends most of the story stewing and reflecting on his relationship with his daughter, Kitty. He
remembers how much fun they had when she was younger and how everything changed when she
reached her teenage years. He had been humiliated and ashamed of her throughout the years.
On page 260 in the story it says, "She knew how ashamed he had been when, at sixteen, she had
announced that she was a lesbian." He goes on to claim, "Kitty could be vicious."
I chose this story for two reasons really...