Like Father Like Dog?

In the movie Trust, there is a character named Matthew, who is struggling because he seems to have an anger issue and has a bad reputation. Things aren't great at home, because his dad is always hard on him and always yelling at him or hitting him. In the movie, Matthew and his dad gets in an argument and Matthew says that he was "going to move out". His dad then laughs at him and tells him to clean the bathroom. Matthew's dad has the mindset that Matthew will never go any where and be stuck at home with him forever.

In the book, The Stranger, we see a common relatonship with Salamano and his dog. Salamano treats the dog poorly and yells and beats it on a daily basis. When the dog comes up missing a few chapters later, Salamano panicks and doesn't know what to do. In my opinion, he took out all the anger he had harboring from his wife's death on the poor dog.

Do you think there is a reason why Matthew's dad treats him that way? Is he scared of Matthew growing up? Is there something in the story that we have yet to find out?

Comments

[Daniel R]

I believe that his father mistreats Matthew because he does not want Matthew having the life he does and only wants a better life for his son. I also believe that there may be some resentment towards Matthew because he is a lot smarter then his father and maybe his father fears his level of intelligence compared to his which is not that high. There also may be a reason that Matthew's dad is treating Matthew the way he use to treat his wife.

[Hunter S]

I agree. I would say also that his father sees Matthew's lack of enthusiasm as an obstacle that he will have to face and is trying to get Matthew to become independent and leave. At the point when we join the story Matthew must be in his late 20's or early 30's and so perhaps at this point his father is so frustrated with him for not having left yet that it's the reason he treats Matthew so badly. At the same time, maybe he doesn't want him to leave because since his wife is obviously gone if he loses Matthew then he will have nothing left to remind him of his wife.

[Simone A.]

I agree with all of you as well. However, I also think that maybe the situation with Matthew and his father is similar to the situation between Maria and her mother. Matthew's mother has passed away, and judging from the fact that it is mentioned more than once that Maria is wearing Matthew's mother's dress, I think her death has some significance in the story. The way Matthew's father treats Matthew is just the way Maria's mother says she will treat Maria in order to punish Maria for "killing" her father. Perhaps his father blames Matthew for Matthew's mother's death.
Both Maria and Matthew accept their treatment without complaint, yet both characters recognize the abuse between the other and their parent. Maybe the parent-child relationships are meant to mirror each other.