Heavy Father Poisoning......

As you know, the 'For Better or For Worse' home page has two sections devoted to biographies of the supporting characters. The biographies Lynn and Beth created for the friends and relations of Foob have a recurring theme: tyrannical fathers who go out of their way to inform the featured person how worthless and stupid they are and exult in their failures. Connie Poirier, Anthony Caine, Marian Richards, Fiona Brass and Mrs Hardacre all had fathers who couldn't wait to point out their failings and begrudged them the least bit of happiness. It's a rather lazy plot device in that it sets up a straw man patriarch to vanquish. The only reason I can think of for Lynn's use of the device is that it resonates with her own experience of the world. She's mentioned in the past that her maternal grandfather was a hypercritical bullying tyrant who was only too glad to point out her mother's failings; the assumption is that if he were a better dad, her mother wouldn't have taken to drinking and everyone's life would be better.