Grief retroactively reveals a father’s awkward bids for closeness

Evidence

At that time I had no idea that he had bought all this skiing equipment and driven us to the far side of Tromøya in an attempt to get close to me, but now, sitting there with closed eyes and pretending to sleep while the announcement to fasten seat belts and straighten seat backs was broadcast over the speakers, the thought of it threatened to send me into another bout of crying, and when yet again I leaned forward and propped my head against the side of the aircraft to hide, it was half-hearted, since my fellow passengers must already have known from take-off that they had ended up next to a young man in tears. — Karl Ove Knausgaard, A Death in the Family, 1318

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Grief recovery paradoxically makes the lost person more vivid — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 313; Grief encompasses a range of complex, untidy emotions. — Lynch, Thomas, The undertaking-life studies from the…, 616

Broader Connections

• Grief recovery paradoxically makes the lost person more vivid #expands (0.55) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 313
• Grief encompasses a range of complex, untidy emotions. #expands (0.50) — Lynch, Thomas, The undertaking-life studies from the…, 616