e leads him to try to please them at every turn. This is evidenced in the lie he tells his father about his mother's having passed along her love to his father (415). David is, in fact, going on the hunting trip with his father even though it seems to be the last thing he would ever want to do.
In other words, there is no sign that the trip will lead to not only David's coming-of-age but also his act of incredible heroism. Similarly, with Willi in Bly's story, the indication is that the man is a drunk and a ne'er-do-well, a man who has wasted his life and is far from being a hero.
The act of David's heroism is tied to his love for his father, but the hunting trip--before the heroism--is not a trip of love for the boy. He is in too much fear of the man to connect in that way, in too much of a need to please him and not to draw his ire. Only when disaster strikes does the boy transcend his fear and sense of weakness before his father. The boy is mauled
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