# Daughters and fathers in fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 21, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078 "2015-06-21T15:50:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Absene\_Myth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/absene_myth/32/7322_2.png) [@Absene\_Myth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absene_Myth)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/1 "2015-06-21T15:50:11Z")
Emma Woodhouse and her gruel eating father is just one example of a father-daughter relationshio in which the daughtees make wiggle room. In memory of this day anf of fathers and daughters, what do we have? do we have mainly fathers in control, or, fathers vacillating or some delughtful blend of thr two? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/2 "2015-06-21T15:56:09Z")
I’ll go with actually great fathers in literature. 3 winners: Atticus Finch Pa Ingalls Silas Marner - especially this one. ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/3 "2015-06-21T15:59:43Z")
One of my all time favorite father - daughter combos was Keith and Veronica Mars. I just loved they way they talked with each other. ---
**Author:** ![Absene\_Myth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/absene_myth/32/7322_2.png) [@Absene\_Myth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absene_Myth)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/4 "2015-06-22T06:00:10Z")
Fictional dads: Faulkner’s Mr Compson and his daughter Caddie is an example of Southern patriarchal manners taking over from paternal empathy. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/5 "2015-06-22T06:48:28Z")
Moses Pray and Addie Loggins (probably) in _ **Paper Moon** _. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/6 "2015-06-22T13:34:30Z")
A recent example, and a different medium: Joel and Sarah from the game _The Last of Us_. We only see the two interact for a short time, but it’s a very affecting relationship, a blend of tenderness and teasing. The initial scenes do a remarkable job of establishing a loving, casual relationship between the hard-working single father and impish 12-year-old daughter. (Spoilered for tearjerker) Which makes what comes after all the more shocking: after a frantic escape sequence in the midst of a catastrophe, Sarah is murdered, leaving a broken Joel to continue alone. I have seen people put down the controller and cry. Joel spends the rest of the story trying _not_ to fall into a fatherly role with Ellie, a teen girl circumstances place in his charge years later.) ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/7 "2015-06-23T15:21:21Z")
Nancy Drew and her father Carson Drew, an attorney. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/8 "2015-06-23T15:30:56Z")
On the positive side of the Dads With Daughters theem: I liked the relationship between Elizabeth Bennett and her father in _ **Pride and Prejudice.** _ There’s Jean Valjean and his adopted daughter Cosette in _ **Les Miserables.** _ Liesl has a tender relationship with her foster father Hans Hubermann in _ **The Book Thief** _ On the negative side: Balzac’s poor \*\*\*Pere Goriot \*\*\*devotes his entire life and all his funds to his greedy, selfish daughters, who care little for him _ **King Lear** _ shuns the one daughter who truly loves him, and embraces his two phony daughters. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/9 "2015-06-23T15:34:56Z")
> [@Fugazi](#): > > One of my all time favorite father - daughter combos was Keith and Veronica Mars. I just loved they way they talked with each other. Yes, I came in here to mention them. I’ve been rewatching the series from the start along with the [We Used To Be Friends](http://storywonk.com/category/podcasts/we-used-to-be-friends/) episode commentary podcasts, and there are so many great Keith/Veronica moments… ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/10 "2015-06-23T15:46:56Z")
Well, there’s Humbert Humbert and his stepdaughter. Dolores, I think her name was. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/11 "2015-06-23T15:53:20Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Well, there’s Humbert Humbert and his stepdaughter. Dolores, I think her name was. She went by a diminutive, if I recall correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Absene\_Myth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/absene_myth/32/7322_2.png) [@Absene\_Myth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absene_Myth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/12 "2015-06-23T21:14:18Z")
How about Scarlett O’Hara and her father in _Gone with the Wind_. If I remember right, she got a lot of her independence and feistiness from him. ---
**Author:** ![Absene\_Myth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/absene_myth/32/7322_2.png) [@Absene\_Myth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absene_Myth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/13 "2015-06-23T21:16:13Z")
And in Hamlet, Ophelia, the daughter of Polonius who treats Ophelia as though she doesn’t know what she’s doing. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/14 "2015-06-23T23:07:43Z")
Eliza Bennet and her dad Mr. Bennet have a knowing rapport. He sees himself in her. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/15 "2015-06-23T23:18:32Z")
> [@Absene\_Myth](#): > > Emma Woodhouse and her gruel eating father is just one example of a father-daughter relationshio in which the daughtees make wiggle room. In memory of this day anf of fathers and daughters, what do we have? do we have mainly fathers in control, or, fathers vacillating or some delughtful blend of thr two? I don’t really understand the OP, but I’ve always thought that Stephen King’s Firestarter is a great story about a daughter who really loves her daddy. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/16 "2015-06-23T23:44:02Z")
On Golden Pond: Norman Thayer, Jr. and Chelsea Thayer Wayne, portrayed by real-life father & daughter Henry and Jane Fonda. (Jane said that acting in a strained father/daughter relationship helped both of them work through their similarly strained relationship in real life.) > [@Balance](#): > > A recent example, and a different medium: Joel and Sarah from the game _The Last of Us_. > > We only see the two interact for a short time, but it’s a very affecting relationship, a blend of tenderness and teasing. The initial scenes do a remarkable job of establishing a loving, casual relationship between the hard-working single father and impish 12-year-old daughter. > > (Spoilered for tearjerker) Which makes what comes after all the more shocking: after a frantic escape sequence in the midst of a catastrophe, Sarah is murdered, leaving a broken Joel to continue alone. I have seen people put down the controller and cry. Joel spends the rest of the story trying _not_ to fall into a fatherly role with Ellie, a teen girl circumstances place in his charge years later.) The game’s particularly sadistic, in that you play as the daughter during the opening scenes and thereby identify with her more closely. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/17 "2015-06-24T00:00:58Z")
Francie Nolan and her father, Johnny, in _A Tree Grows in Brooklyn_. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/18 "2015-06-24T15:59:59Z")
To answer the OP, fathers tend to be in control of their daughters in most fiction these days, but not as much as in the past, I’d say. The father and daughter in the recent Christopher Nolan sf adventure film _Interstellar_ have a strong bond which undergoes some terrible strains but endures. The grim Stannis and his disfigured but smart and sweet daughter Shireen have a special tie that is heartbreakingly ended in _Game of Thrones_. A dad prepares his beloved daughter for a deadly purpose in _Hanna_. There’s a loving dad and daughter in the new Pixar movie _Inside Out_; likewise in both versions of _Father of the Bride_. > [@astorian](#): > > …I liked the relationship between Elizabeth Bennett and her father in _ **Pride and Prejudice.** _… Nitpick: just one “t” in Bennet as Austen wrote it (and as **WordMan** noted). > [@Absene\_Myth](#): > > How about Scarlett O’Hara and her father in _Gone with the Wind_. If I remember right, she got a lot of her independence and feistiness from him. Yes. Good one. > [@bobot](#): > > I don’t really understand the OP, but I’ve always thought that Stephen King’s Firestarter is a great story about a daughter who really loves her daddy. Another good one! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daughters-and-fathers-in-fiction/723078/19 "2015-06-24T16:30:32Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > The grim Stannis and his disfigured but smart and sweet daughter Shireen have a special tie that is heartbreakingly ended in _Game of Thrones_. Don’t make me cry! I loved the bond Stannis seemed to have with Shireen, and never imagined he’d do what he did. The result reminded me of a something C.S. Lewis’ demon Screwtape once said: \* **“To get a man’s soul and give him NOTHING in return! THAT is what really gladdens our Father’s heart!”** \* Stannis committed the ultimate sin and got NOTHING in return. Small wonder he didn’t mind running into Brienne.