Choosing fatherhood

For Mother's Day this year, I explored a couple of prominent and well-loved examples of motherhood in literature. Today is Father's Day in my part of the world, and so I'd like to take the opportunity to look at literary representations of a very specific type of dad: the adoptive father who never expected to become one. In both of the following cases, the man in question had every intention of remaining a childless bachelor until the end of his days, but when faced with an orphaned child desperate for love knew he needed to step in and provide it.

Matthew Cuthbert, from Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery

He had gone to the station to pick up a boy. The plan, as decided upon by Matthew and his sister Marilla, had been to take in an orphan boy who was old enough to help Matthew out around the farm, as age was starting to catch up with him. But when he got to the station, there was no boy waiting for him: only Anne, an orphan girl who wasn't going to be much help at all.

Well, it wasn't in Matthew's nature to leave a child all alone, so he brought Anne back to the farm. She chattered the whole way, more than making up for Matthew's habitual silence, and by the time they arrived he knew he couldn't let her be sent back. Marilla took more convincing, but in the end Matthew won out and Anne stayed.

Although a quiet presence in Anne's life, Matthew is a constant support, a steady bulwark in the chaos otherwise surrounding our favourite impetuous redhead. Whenever her emotions threaten to run away with her (as they often do), Anne can rely on Matthew to comfort her and offer just the right piece of common sense. He is always in Anne's corner, no matter what she's done to frustrate Marilla this time, and although he is entirely different to Anne he understands her implicitly.

Although Anne befriends a host of kindred spirits throughout the books, there is something truly special about the bond she shares with Matthew, the very first truly kindred spirit to come into her life and the kindest man she ever comes to know.

Jean Valjean, from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

The theme of fatherhood runs deeply throughout the many plot threads of Les Misérables. There are terrible fathers, absent fathers, grandfathers, and bishops. But the most central father figure in the novel is Jean Valjean, an ex-convict on a mission to redeem himself. However, 19th-century France is not kind to former criminals, so Valjean has to assume a series of false identities.

Cosette comes into Valjean's life as the result of a moment where he stumbles in his journey to becoming a good man. Her mother, Fantine, had worked in a factory owned by Valjean, but when it came out that Fantine had a secret illegitimate child she was sacked immediately. The loss of her livelihood ultimately leads to Fantine becoming fatally ill, and when Valjean watches over her as she passes he learns that he is, albeit indirectly, responsible for her death—and subsequently the likely demise of her daughter as well. As Fantine drifts out of consciousness for the last time Valjean promises to care for the child in her stead.

When Valjean tracks down Cosette, he is enraged to discover that her caretakers have been abusing her dreadfully. He takes her away immediately and, despite being actively on the run from the police, reasserts his conviction to give Cosette the best life he can. From the moment he gathers her small body into his arms and carries her out of a life of cruelty, Cosette becomes Valjean's entire world and his reason for living. And she, in turn, adores her beloved rescuer-turned-father completely.

But, alas, little girls grow up, and a father and daughter cannot be everything to each other forever. Cosette falls in love and marries (there's an awful lot of story there about Valjean's reaction to this young man that I am skipping over for succinctness, because if I recount the whole story we'll be here for years). Now an old man, Valjean finds that the loss of Cosette, even partially, weakens his health and his resolve. He takes to his deathbed, but he is not alone: Cosette refuses to let him die without her there to ease his passing. When he does, it is with the knowledge that he has fulfilled his promise from all those years ago and raised Fantine's daughter in love and safety; it is also with the comforting presence of the girl who has become half of his soul.

Both Matthew and Valjean exhibit a soft and caring side to masculinity; Matthew is a stoic, hardy man of the soil, and Valjean is a physically powerful fugitive, but they are also utterly devoted to their adoptive daughters and show them nothing but kindness, gentleness, and unquestionable love. Even though they may not be Anne and Cosette's fathers from birth, and despite neither of the men planning to be father figures beforehand at all, they are strong models of good parenting.

Happy Father's Day to dads and fatherly folks of all sorts!