Expectation vs. Reality

In The Sportswriter, by Richard Ford, the main character, Frank Bascombe, has trouble dealing with reality. He repeatedly holds on to false hope, and doesn't want to recognize reality. Bascombe also believes that the situations he falls into are much better than they really are. He sets expectations for himself that are much higher than they should be, and this causes him to lose sight of reality. The times in Bascombe's life where he is most oblivious to reality occur when his son dies, when he fails as a novelist, and when his wife divorces him.

After Bascombe's first son, Ralph, dies, Bascombe is bewildered because he doesn't know how to deal with his emotions. "In the first six months after Ralh died, while I was in the deepest depths of my worst dreaminess, I began to order as many catalogs into the house as I could. At least forty, I'm sure, came every three months...[My wife] and I came to believe, for a time, that satisfying all our purchasing needs from catalogs was the very way of life that suited us and our circumstances" (Ford 195). The Bascombes tried to fill the hole in their life with useless material objects they would find in catalogs. They were oblivious to the fact that they would never be able to revive Ralph, and they will have to deal with his death until they join him in heaven.

The second instance in the book when Bascombe doesn't process reality is after he fails as a novelist. Frank Bascombe is unable to become a successful writer like he always dreamed of. He has to resort to becoming a sportswriter. Oddly enough, Bascombe is not in any way saddened by this. He is content with being a sportswriter and doesn't care about improving his situation. Bascombe considers himself successful because he has a steady job. Deep down inside, however, he knows that he can do much better. He just doesn't want to work to live up to his potential.

The third time in his life when Frank Bascombe doesn't accept reality is when his wife divorces him. He reacts to this in a similar way as he did when he failed as a novelist. He does not become deeply depressed, like most people would. Instead, he just tries to act like it never happened and tries to block out that part in his life. This, I would argue, is his biggest character flaw. Instead of hiding from his problems, he should face his fears and show his true emotions to the people he loves.