fraser's dead mommy

[schmerica]

Okay, so I've seen Call of the Wild quite a few times now, right? And the one thing that I still don't get is the Muldoon-killing-Caroline-Fraser thing. I mean, the dialogue goes like this:

Fraser: Why didn't you tell me?

Bob: It seems misguided now but you were so young at the time, just a young boy. I was full of rage I didn't want to pass that to you. I wanted to protect you.

But I still don't get -- how did Fraser think his mother died? Did he never wonder about it? Did they have a different version that they told him (Fraser's saying "why didn't you tell me" there, not "why did you lie to me?", which seems different)? Where was he when this happened? Wouldn't he have been around? He remembers other stuff from that age and younger. Was it just something never mention ever in the whole rest of his life?

This plagues my mind, really. I suppose it might just be one of those things you have to fill in for yourself, but it bugs me nonetheless.

Comments

[axiom_of_stripe]

my sketchy thoughts have always been like this: caroline is murdered while ben and bob are away. bob finds her and keeps ben from seeing the body, which is understandable for a kid that age with a violent murder; tell ben she's died, and ben fills in an accidental death from all of the dangers he knows about, living in the northern wilderness. bob falls into the depression that ben describes in hawk and a handsaw, then somehow gets a tip or something that points him at muldoon; makes ben a big breakfast, gives him a hug, and sends him to her grandparents while he goes haring off on the chase. ben assumes that his father has just snapped out of his depression and is going back to his usual workaholic self. grandparents conspire to let him believe this (doesn't bob say something about "we thought it was best, at your age" in call of the wild?). bob is too ashamed of killing -- he thinks -- muldoon to ever sit down and have a talk with ben once he's older, and really it's easier to avoid it....

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

That's what I assumed, that Ben had been lied to about the manner of her death. It makes sense to me if he himself were not at home to see it happen.

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

I second this. I think that we have to assume--barring repressed memory stories, which I like a lot!--that Caroline was not shot in front of her son and that the adults who were involved did not inform the child that his mother was murdered. That seems quite reasonable to me, actually; I don't think I would tell a six year old that his mother was shot on purpose by a friend (though Bob should have mentioned it later; of course, this is the least of what Bob should have talked to Fraser about. Thought: maybe this is WHY Bob never talks to his son; maybe the avoidance of THIS conversation meant the avoidance of all other conversation. Logically, this is the elephant in the room.)

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

though Bob should have mentioned it later; of course, this is the least of what Bob should have talked to Fraser about. Thought: maybe this is WHY Bob never talks to his son; maybe the avoidance of THIS conversation meant the avoidance of all other conversation. Logically, this is the elephant in the room.)

Huh. That's really an interesting point -- this as sort of at the center of that distance, a wedge Bob can't deal with between them. Hmm.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

See, yeah, this makes a lot of sense -- I can see it. *ponders*