Theroux's Mr. Bones

Mr. Bones, written by Paul Theroux, is a short story about a father’s identity change and how his family sees him. Newley proclaimed Mr. Bones is a character in which the dad portrays as if he was a real person. He wears blackface, starts singing and performing and his whole demeanor changes. Other characters, Mom and the narrator (a child of Mr. Bones), are important aspects as well. They provide insight as to what living with their father’s or husband’s self-proclaimed new identity is like. Mr. Bones, Mother and the narrator, all provide generous amounts of information, in different ways, to support the main theme of how a person can change in order to feel better about themselves but there can be some backlash from others because of the effects of the change. It is not an uncommon thing for people to be self-conscious about themselves, it is actually more uncommon to find someone who is completely
comfortable in their own skin. A prime example of this is Dad in Mr. Bones. Starting out as himself, Dad is a goofy, happy, without a care in the world kind of guy. Then one day, “he had become a different man, and it had happened quickly, just like that, calling himself Mr. Bones and teasing us…” (Theroux 1200). Everyone noticed, his several children and his unsuspecting wife. It was a quick as a flip of a switch that Dad now transformed into a blackface, singing, taking jokes too far man. It is perfectly okay for someone to change in order to make themselves happier but there will be consequences. Several family members get upset by his actions, particularly Mother. Her once, sweet and caring husband has turned into a joker who says that, “she was too ugly to have her face lifted. They lowered her body instead,” (Theroux 1200). The family members did not mind the physical change as much as they did the psychological change. Mr. Bones offered no explanation and is constantly annoying and taunting his family; causing them to start to dislike and avoid him. The consequences or effects of Dad’s actions to turn into Mr. Bones are extreme. He pushes away his family to the point they try to avoid him. Mr. Bones may be happy but the rest of his family suffer first-hand because of him. No one really thinks about others suffering at the root of ones self-consciousness. This is a different way to look at this issue but it is quite evident in Mr. Bones. The person most affected by his attitude and physical change is his wife, referred during the story to as Mother. Mother deals with her own stresses about their broken down house, caring for her family, and now she has to babysit her grown husband. Mother cannot understand why her once loving and caring husband has suddenly turned into someone new, “…she was confused and upset,” (Theroux 1200). She tries to wrap her head around this new identity but cannot comprehend it in its strangeness. Because of her inability to understand Mr. Bones, she has to deal with the pain of losing her husband. Her pain illustrates itself when “he [Mr. Bones] skipped out of the room, his hands in the air, and I thought for a moment that mother was going to cry,” (Theroux 1200). Once again, Mr. Bones is carefree and happy at others expense. Mother’s suffering is so great that she cannot hide it, her children can see it on her face. During a persons life they often recognize their heroes as their mother and father.
Similarly in Mr. Bones, the narrator once saw his father as his hero. Unfortunately, this all changes when the person he once knew claims to be Mr. Bones. The narrator is continuously baffled by the dramatic changes his father undergoes, “…we had no idea what he was talking about,” (Theroux 1199). Mr. Bones is so different from who he used to be that his own child cannot understand and make sense of what his words. Furthermore, singing is not out of the ordinary for their father but once he became Mr. Bones, “within a week, he grew hoarse, and from the next room it was as though another man were singing—not Dad but a growly stranger,” (Theroux 1199). Parallel to other examples, the ‘new and improved’ Dad is not like he used to be at all. Everything is different, from the way he speaks to his voice. Of course, this all relates back to how Mr. Bones is much happier with himself but does not recognize the toll his new identity is taking on others, and in this case, his own
son. No two people are the same which explains why no two people experience pain in the same way. Written by Paul Theroux, Mr. Bones, expresses the idea of how a person changing themselves to be happier can effect the people closest to them in negative ways. Mother and the narrator both repeatedly support this idea through their thoughts and actions. Mother breaks down while the narrator, one of Mr. Bones own children, feels lost as he cannot recognize his own father who was once his hero. On the other hand, Mr. Bones is not a permanent identity change but the effects of his actions imprint his victims forever.