Meaning of Wild-goose father

As with Henry's scratches, the image of the wild-goose fathers symbolizes families that become unanchored as a result of ambition. The term goose is often equated with silliness and aimlessness. Pak reports that the goose fathers ended up with alarming levels of alcoholism and suicide, not doubt as a result of the severed family unit (41). Pak feels foolish in the wake of his decision, as the family's immigration did not pan out as he had envisioned. He muses that "real goose families stayed together, foraged, nested, and migrated together" (42). Yet the onset of Pak becoming a wild-goose father symbolizes the dissolution of his family as he knows it.