Through mood swings and harsh reactions, Ed Boone struggles to be a stable father figure for Christopher resulting in both positive and negative unhealthy interactions between the two. For more than the first half of the book Christopher and his father share a rocky relationship full of a mix of good and bad altercations. One moment the two are bonding and having fun and then in an instant Mr. Boone snaps and begins to scream at Christopher. It doesn’t do any good that on top of all the yelling, he curses and shouts demeaning things to Christopher. One of these instantaneous bouts occurs after Christopher’s father discovered he had talked with Mrs. Alexander about his mother. Instead of simply confronting him or punishing Christopher, his father results to screaming that he should “not go around sticking…show more content… Instead of just leaving Christopher alone to be upset, Mr. Boone “lifted [Christopher] up and made [him] sit on the side of the bed...took [his] jumper and [his] shirt off” and brought him to the bathroom where he drew a bath for him (Haddon 115). Even knowing the risk of touching Christopher and having him lose control of himself, Mr. Boone does the right thing and helps him get ready. Most people in his situation, parent or otherwise, would have just left Christopher alone until they felt like handling him. Mr. Boone cared so much that he was willing to take the risk and care for his son. The fact that he is willing to take such caring risks to be the father that Christopher needs one moment and lose his composure reacting the way that he immediately feels the next moment is the reason that the two have these uncomfortable daily interactions. This not only causes awkward father-son interactions but also a very unstable relationship between the two. It also causes Mr. Boone to appear as an inconsistent, untrustworthy father figure for
