How Does Eggers present the Relationship Between him and Toph in Chapters 1 – 5 of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius?

Dave and Toph’s dysfunctional but close relationship develops and changes throughout the memoir. However the reader/audience sees the two key aspects of the relationship stay the same, Dave is both a father figure and a brother to Toph. Throughout the memoir Eggers, the writer, is exploring the experiences of his younger self, Dave, and trying to communicate to the audience that he is aware of the mistakes he made when he was younger.

Notably on page 22-23, the second time the reader is introduced to Toph, Dave and Toph have a conversation full of short, informal sentence fragments. In this chapter their mother is ill but still alive and Dave and Beth are taking care of her. Dave asks Toph “how’s it going” and he replies “fine.” Toph only replying with the informal adverb “fine” suggests that at the start of the memoir they do not have a close relationship. However when Dave asks Toph to “pause the stupid game,” the adjective “stupid” suggests that there are some aspects of a teasing, brotherly relationship. From this interaction the audience sees how Dave and Toph’s relationship develops after their mother’s death, becoming closer and friendlier but also more serious compared to this conversation.

Significantly on page 57 Eggers uses a sports game setting to explore Dave’s relationship with Toph, both as a father figure and a brother. Dave uses several phrases in the sports lexical field, telling Toph to use a “lighter bat,” says he “catches well” and that a ball was “served up like a fat fucking steak.” Some readers would recognise this as a stereotypical American father and son relationship, the father giving advice on sports. Other readers would interpret this as signs of a brotherly relationship, teasing and making fun of each other. The orthography of the phrase “lighter bat” on page 57 shows how Dave is younger and insecure as a father figure, the use of italics showing it is said in his head rather than out loud where he could be criticised. Dave uses the verb “sucks” asking Toph why he “sucks so much.” This colloquial, bantering dynamic verb shows the immature, brotherly teasing side of their relationship.

Similarly Eggers uses a role-play between Dave and Toph to show their playful relationship. Dave and Toph on several occasions pretend that Dave is the father and Toph is his son. Toph uses the address term or vocative “Dad” when referring to Dave in these role-plays. This could show his longing for a father and how Dave is insecure about Toph being hurt and missing out as he does not have a father.

Contrasting to their jokey, fun relationship previously, on page 89 Eggers uses another game to show the lack of boundaries between Dave and Toph. Here Dave takes out a knife and, as part of the game, goes over to Toph yelling “hiyyyyy.” The verb “yell” shows how aggressive this would appear to Toph. As Dave and Toph always play games and joke about we see here how unpredictable their relationship can be, going from fun to scary and aggressive. This also links into how Dave’s father treated him. On page 232 we find out that Dave’s father was abusive towards him, kicking door down to try and get to him. Therefore subconsciously Dave could be using his experience of a father to shape how he deals with Toph.