The Doctor's Son by John O'Hara
"The Doctor's Son" by John O'Hara is a poignant narrative divided into four parts, centered on the experiences of fifteen-year-old James (Jimmy) Malloy, the son of a physician during the 1918 influenza epidemic. As the story unfolds, Jimmy grapples with the complexities of growing up, particularly as he witnesses the harsh realities of illness and death while accompanying Doctor Myers, a medical student, on house calls to flu victims. Their journey takes them to various homes, including the Evans family, where underlying tensions and unspoken relationships emerge.
The narrative captures the emotional toll of the epidemic, with Jimmy experiencing a profound realization of mortality when a child dies unexpectedly during a visit to a miner's household. As the story progresses, themes of morality and betrayal surface, highlighted by Doctor Myers's affair with Adele Evans, which complicates relationships and exposes the vulnerabilities of the characters involved. This story intricately weaves together personal growth and the harshness of life, focusing on the contrasts between youthful innocence and the often brutal realities faced by adults. Through Jimmy's eyes, O'Hara explores the loss of illusions and the painful awakening to a more complex world.
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The Doctor's Son by John O'Hara
First published: 1935
Type of plot: Social realism
Time of work: 1918
Locale: Lantenengo County, Pennsylvania
Principal Characters:
James (Jimmy) Malloy , the narrator and protagonist, a fifteen-year-old boyDoctor Mike Malloy , his father"Doctor" Myers , a medical studentEdith Evans , Jimmy's girlAdele Evans , Edith's motherDavid Evans , Edith's father
The Story
"The Doctor's Son," a long story in four parts, concerns James (Jimmy) Malloy, a boy who is confronted with the fact that one may be physically grown yet not grown up. Jimmy, the doctor's son of the title, narrates this story about his loss of illusions against the backdrop of the influenza epidemic of 1918. During the epidemic, Doctor Mike Malloy works himself into exhaustion, and "Doctor" Myers, a medical student, is called in to work Malloy's patients until he has recovered. Jimmy, though only fifteen, is commissioned to drive Doctor Myers around the county to see all the flu victims. Their first stop, at the request of Doctor Malloy, is the Evans home in Colieryville, where Jimmy looks forward to seeing Edith Evans, a girl several years his senior. Because the Malloys and Evanses are friends, Jimmy and Doctor Myers are invited for lunch by David Evans, Edith's father. At lunch (which Mr. Evans cannot attend because of business commitments), Doctor Myers is attracted to Adele Evans, though Jimmy notices something unusual only in the glances passed between Edith and her mother.
As they travel to see patients in single-family dwellings and gathered in bars to await the doctor, Jimmy is impressed by the compassion and skill with which Doctor Myers works. He has an unnerving experience, however, when they visit a miner's house in which the husband has died, and one of the children dies while they are there. Although Jimmy is a doctor's son and has been exposed to death, he has always been prepared for it, "if only by the sound of the ambulance bell. This was different." It is his first realization that death can come unexpectedly, and he is shaken by it.
The third part of the story, the shortest of the four, opens with the story's only extended digression, as Jimmy discusses various people who are taking advantage of the flu epidemic to profit in one way or another, whether financially or sexually. This digression foreshadows the affair between Doctor Myers and Adele Evans, which follows when Mrs. Evans asks Doctor Myers to come by on the pretense of examining the maid; Jimmy and Edith are unsuccessful in preventing the liaison.
Soon after this, Mr. Evans interrupts an examination Doctor Myers is performing in a bar and demands to speak to him about his wife. Mr. Evans knows nothing of the affair; he is simply concerned from Doctor Myers's visits that his wife may be sick. The relieved Doctor Myers assures him that she is fine and agrees to reexamine her after finishing with his patient. While he waits, Mr. Evans shares a bottle of whiskey that is being handed around, even though Doctor Myers advises him not to (it has been identified earlier as a means of passing the flu virus).
At the Evanses' house, a call from Doctor Malloy recalls Doctor Myers and Jimmy. Doctor Malloy feels fit enough to resume his practice, and Doctor Myers returns to medical school (asking Jimmy to "say goodbye to the Evanses" for him). Jimmy and his father resume seeing patients around the clock, but the strain of the two working together so closely begins to tell, and Doctor Malloy decides to drive himself on his next rounds after they have a physical confrontation. The following day, Jimmy discovers that Mr. Evans has died of the flu. He buys flowers for Edith, but she refuses to see him, and he soon finds another girl, revealing that Edith really meant little more to him than Mrs. Evans did to Doctor Myers.
Bibliography
Bruccoli, Matthew. John O'Hara: A Descriptive Bibliography. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1978.
Bruccoli, Matthew. The O'Hara Concern. New York: Random House, 1975.
Eppard, Philip B. Critical Essays on John O'Hara. New York: G. K. Hall, 1994.
Goldleaf, Steven. John O'Hara: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne, 1999.
Grimes, William. "The John O'Hara Cult, at Least, Is Faithful." The New York Times, November 9, 1996, p. 17.
MacShane, Frank. The Life of John O'Hara. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1980.
MacShane, Frank, ed. Collected Stories of John O'Hara. New York: Random House, 1984.
Wolfe, Geoffrey. The Art of Burning Bridges: A Life of John O'Hara. New York: Knopf, 2003.