The Tension between Resentment and Affection

Throughout the narrative, Jake struggles with the conflicting feelings between resentment and affection , experiencing both in response to his grandfather's illness and increasing emotional disability. It's important to note that the author skillfully portrays Jake as not being dominated by either one or the other, but instead feeling both, with what appears to be relatively equal frequency and intensity. The portrayal also suggests that each is a natural response to the situation in which Jake finds himself, making no judgmental suggestion that the resentment is automatically bad or that affection is naturally better. It's important to note, however, that Jake DOES make this distinction, feeling guilty about both the intensity and frequency of his resentment as well as what he sees as a lack of intensity and/or frequency of his expressions of affection. In other words, while Jake has opinions about his...