Summary

“Phaeton enters, wearing sunglasses and carrying a yellow rubber raft. He tests the water with his toe, then launches his raft and goes to lie on it. The Therapist enters with her notepad and sits in a chair on the deck of the pool” (62). The style and structure of the piece are similar to those of a therapeutic session between subject and psychiatrist, or student and counselor.

Phaeton tells The Therapist his story: how his parents separated when he was young; how he was teased when he told his schoolmates that his father was the god of the sun; how his mother supported him and comforted him; and how she told him that if he wanted to connect with his father so badly, he should go look for him. Throughout the story, The Therapist injects commentary, offered to The Audience and expressed...