Charlie's father

Outer characterization

Charlie’s father is one of the main characters in the short story “Reunion” by John Cheever. He is divorced from Charlie’s mother and works in New York. Charlie describes him as “a big, good-looking man” (p. 1, l. 12), who smells like “a rich compound of whiskey and after-shave lotion, shoe polish, woollens, and the rankness of a mature male” (p. 1, ll. 16-17). The fact that he smells like whiskey suggests that he had been drinking before noon and that he is most likely an alcoholic. 

Inner characterization

Charlie’s father is an arrogant man who enjoys showing off. When he enters the first restaurant, he addresses the waiter rudely and condescendingly by calling for him in different languages and by clapping his hands: “ ‘Kellner!’ he shouted. ‘G...