Ham on Rye

Henry Chinaski Senior is Henry Junior’s abusive father. He performs the role of villain or antagonist in the novel, taking out his frustrations with society on his son. In turn, Henry Junior internalizes this abuse, which creates a sense of alienation in him from which he never truly escapes. Henry Senior is the domineering force in his son’s life. While he tries to teach his son values such as hard work and dedication, the only values he imparts are violence and abuse. In this way, he is perpetuating a cycle that has continued for generations. In the first chapters of the novel, the young Henry Junior is taken to visit his father’s relatives. He meets his criminal, abusive grandfather and uncles, all while being told by his father that they are bad people. The same abuse, violence, and trauma that left the other members of the family as broken shells of their former selves is visited upon Henry Junior by his father. The violence he learned from his father, the violence that warped his brother’s lives, is passed down to the next generations, creating a cycle of violence from which neither of the Henrys is able to break free. He is somewhat round but static, not changing throughout the story.

Though he seems to be the most successful member of his family, Henry Senior cannot help but resent the society that he has made into his home. He and his family emigrated from Germany to America. In America, he became invested in The Illusion of the American Dream. He believed that he could lift himself and his family out of poverty so long as he worked hard enough. After years of struggle and hard work, however, he discovers that the American Dream was a lie. He loses his job during the Great Depression, only illustrating to him further that he was a fool to become so invested in such a hollow promise. He is frustrated that he has been duped, and he takes out his frustration on his son. He has spent years teaching Henry Junior to work hard, to be dedicated, and to live the American Dream. As such, he has come to view his own son as an embodiment of all the lies that he once believed. He beats his son as a way to punish himself, whipping his razor strop with the ferocity of someone who is embarrassed that his entire life is a lie.

Even if he is embarrassed to believe in the American dream in private, Henry Senior is aware of the importance of public perception. Each day, he wakes up and drives away from his house at the same time. He is desperate for his neighbors to believe that he still has a job so he performs an elaborate show each and every day to trick them into believing that he is a successful example of an immigrant to America. He wants to believe in the American Dream, even as his own ambitions crumble around him. He is so desperate for the American Dream to be true that he turns his entire life into a hollow public performance. Henry Senior becomes exhausted and alienated by this performance. Importantly, his son knows the truth. When he beats his son, Henry Junior becomes aware of just how pathetic his father has become. The beatings lose their emotional impact, and he welcomes even more physical pain as a way of taunting his father, who he sees as a weak and pathetic man. Henry Junior does not defeat his antagonistic father by punching back or by escaping but by inviting him to commit further abuse and to demonstrate just how weak and pathetic he really is.

Katherine Chinaski is Henry’s mother. In a novel depicting the suffering and trauma of his childhood, she stands out as the one source of positive emotion in his life. While she complains about him, criticizes him, and does not allow him to do as he pleases, she does so out of a genuine concern for his well-being. For all her love and affection, however, her relationship with her son is defined by his resentment. He resents her for not protecting him from his father. Henry Junior can only conceive of her as someone who was as powerful and as influential in his life as his father but who took no action when Henry was beaten or abused by Henry Senior. To Henry Junior, this is an unforgivable infraction, and he cannot bring himself to truly love his mother because she has witnessed the depths of his pain and done nothing to help him. Her last appearance in the novel is an attempt to remonstrate this broken relationship. She leaps out from behind a hedge and warns Henry Junior that his father is going to kill him. She wants to protect her son, he can see, but she lacks the power to fight back against her husband. Even though he cuts off all ties with his mother, the warning she provides to Henry is the catalyst in his changing view of her role in his life. She is a round character but also static, not changing much throughout the novel. She shows more change, however, than Henry Senior.

Eventually, Henry begins to see his mother as another survivor of his father’s abusive behavior. He grows older, develops a better sense of empathy, and, during the incident in which she warns him about Henry Senior’s anger, he comes to understand that she lacked any power to deal with her husband’s abuse. As a woman in early 20th-century America, she was caught in a patriarchal society and trapped in poverty. She tried to raise her son while dealing with a violent husband. Eventually, Henry realizes, she also grew tired of Henry Senior’s behavior and developed a more apathetic attitude toward the man she once loved. Unlike her son, she could not bring herself to hate Henry Senior. Instead, she settled on bitter indifference to the man who brought so much violence and trauma into her life. Henry Junior’s changing perception of his mother brings a sense of pathos to her life, even if he never actually reunites with her during the narrative of Ham on Rye.