This Boy's Life In both the film and book This Boy's Life, Tobias Wolff is surrounded by bad role models and terrible father figures. Wolff and his mother are constantly searching for complete family life and find themselves in a series of bad situations during their search. In the book Toby's relationship with his mother Rosemary is illustrated clearly and deeply, but the film doesn't seem to focus on this enough. This article will evaluate the depiction of Toby's relationship with his mother and the men in their life as told in the memoir and film. The relationship Toby has with his mother is a very strong bond. This is evident in the film and the book. But what Toby lacks in both versions of this story is a good father figure, which his mother seems to always be looking for him. At the beginning of the book Toby has several misadventures with bad influences, be they friends or father figures. Roy seems to be one of the first influences to really capture the reader's attention. He follows Toby and his mother up to Utah from Florida, mostly just to be with Rosemary. Roy uses Toby to get to Rosemary in many ways, such as when he buys Toby the rifle or when he takes him to spy on Rosemary at work and follow her home. Roy makes it seem like it's a game for Toby and befriends him that way. This portrayal of Roy is also very well done in the film. For me this is a very important part of the story in general, because after reading the book and seeing the movie, almost all the men who come into Toby's life treat him in a way like Roy treats him. his mother seems to be the theme of the story. This behavior would have a very traumatizing effect on any child at that time in his life, but with the influence Toby's mother has on him, Toby always tries to find his way out of bad situations. Another example of this theme would be the chapter in the book where Toby and his mother go to Alkai Point to watch the mock naval battle and meet the two men. They had left Roy not long ago and moved to Seattle so they could escape him again. This must have worked in the end, because Roy doesn't try to find them for the rest of the story. This chapter isn't used in the movie and probably could have been omitted from the book, but it's... half the paper... and it belongs to him. He sets out to be a wise guy, masking the uncertainty he feels. His stepfather, Dwight, masking his own demons and insecurities, also embarks on a mission to bring Toby back to his level. It's thanks to Toby that he doesn't want to stay down and that's advantage enough. Instinctively using his absent father's creative license, he finds a tenuous way out, a break enough to put him on a better path. (Salavarria)Naturally the film couldn't add all these things which in my opinion make it weaker than the book. It would have become a short TV series or something if all these things had been added. The story had a very long list of characters and became very engaging at some points, but I think this made the book interesting for more than one audience. Some parts of Toby's life were very comical and entertaining, others left you on the edge of your seat, making you wonder why he did some of the major things he did. In closing, I feel that the book did a much better job than the film depicting Wolff's life. The book made Toby's relationship with his mother and the men in their lives much more dramatic.