Reunion by: John Cheever is the tale of a boy who meets his father for the first time in three years, alone only to discover that he is a rude, rowdy drunk rather than the parental figure Charlie was hoping to reconnect with. The father's actions are initially funny, but when Charlie, the narrator, retreats from commenting on the events and simply reports his father's increasingly outrageous actions, his sadness at the grotesque way his father is behaving is clear . This mixture of humor and pathos, both arising from the father's grotesque rudeness, makes it all too clear why this was the last time the narrator, Charlie, sees his father. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The story primarily comprises an almost third-person description of a quest for lunch that lasts less than two hours in which Charlie desperately hopes to reconnect with his estranged father. “As soon as Charlie sees his father, he feels that he was Charlie's father, his flesh and blood, his future and his destiny.” Despite not seeing his father in three years, Charlie immediately feels a strong emotional connection to him, as one would with a parental figure. Of his father, he smells "A rich mixture of whiskey, aftershave lotion, shoe polish, wool and the rancor of the mature male." He is intrigued by every aspect of his father and takes him in, "the same way his mother smells a rose." This opening uses grotesque elements to provide an uncomfortably accurate description of his father, showing the extent to which Charlie is absorbing everything about him and mentally constructing him as a new hero before he shows his true colors as a hateful alcoholic. After sitting down at a restaurant, the father shouts, "We could have a little service here... Chop-Chop." to the waiter, who feels uncomfortable with his father's rude ways. The father responds to this discomfort by saying: “I should have brought my whistle… I have a whistle that is only audible to the ears of old waiters.” This exchange uses grotesque elements to create humor by showing an exchange in which the father is so rude that it is almost cartoonish despite it being a situation the reader personally would not want to be in. This happens again in three different restaurants with the father continuing to get a visceral reaction from the waiters present, taunting and bullying them. The father never brings his son the promised lunch, as he instead becomes progressively more drunk and belligerent towards those who would serve him, prompting his son to eventually leave himself when they return to Grand Central Station, overcome with sadness.