Jennifer Kerslake is a British editor and short story writer. In 2021, she won the Harper’s Bazaar annual literary competition with the short story “Tin Man”.
Despite her doubts about her father, the narrator also cares about him. She worries about him when she discovers that he is hurt and even scolds him for not wearing a hard hat. The narrator might be experiencing some anxiety after the loss of her mother, and she is clearly afraid that she is going to lose her father as well. For example, she checks the color of his spit in the sink after she hears him coughing. However, despite caring about her father, the narrator also feels disconnected from him: “We’re like trains, passing on opposite tracks.”
The narrator’s loss has also made her quite self-sufficient. She lights the fire and cooks for both herself and her father, and leaves him hot water in case he might need it for his head injury. In many ways, her doubts about her father being able to manage without her mother has made the narrator try to be the adult in the household and take care of both herself and her father.
When the narrator sees the costume the father has made for her, her perspective on him changes. The costume is made of plywood, since her father works well with wood, and it is clear that her father has spent a lot of time and effort on it. The narrator is so moved by the gesture that she embraces him before she goes to school:
I turn to face him. His eyes are on the icy ground. I wrap my arms around his middle and squeeze. He smells like sawdust and tarps. I feel the thump of his heart against my ear and wait for him to say something, but he just places a large hand on the crown of my head.
This moment marks a shift in the narrator’s relationship with her father. The two manage to reconnect and come to terms with their loss. The narrator seems to realize that her father can still take care of her in his own way, even if he does not do things exactly like her mother.
