Bawke - POV - Aarhus Universitet

16 p.o.v. number 21 March 2006
As the ticket controllers appear, leaving the train becomes a
necessity for the father, as he knows that he and his son will otherwise
quickly will be connected as the only ones on board who don’t have
passports or papers of any kind. He makes a quick decision and steps
off the train, leaving his son behind.
The third time, at the refugee center, the father is faced yet again
with the decision to leave his son.
Although one could argue that he already left his son on the
subway, that was a choice he was forced to make under great pressure
and very quickly. When he sees his son in the refugee center, he has
plenty of time to call out to him, and to reconsider the rushed decision
of leaving him. However, this final time, the father carries through
with the decision, and even after he has had a chance to think again, in
the car, he doesn’t back down as he had done at the cargo port.
When they fought over the Zidane soccer card, the father yelled
“here you will have the chance to become like him”. While the dad
doesn’t necessarily want his son to become a soccer star, by saying
“become like him”, he essentially means that in this country where
they have finally arrived, anything is possible, even wild dreams of
sports stardom. In the end, when the son finds his father’s hat and the
soccer card on the ground, the sentence “become like him” is repeated
without being spoken. In his hands, the son holds a piece of the his
own past, the father’s hat, and also the soccer card, which now
symbolizes the father’s hope for his son’s future.
Apart from the symbolism, there is also a strong emotional impact
in the ending. Most people have something that used to belong to their
father or mother, and this mere fact makes the object priceless. After
they are long gone, it will always function as a portal into a special
moment or a childhood memory. For the boy in Bawke, he will most
certainly cherish and hold on to both his father’s hat and the soccer