Describe Harold in V.S. Pritchett's "The Fly in the Ointment," and use specific pieces of text to support each point."The Fly in the Ointment" by...

In "The Fly in the Ointment" by V.S. Pritchett, Harold is
a good son, but his father's criticisms have taken their toll. It speaks to Harold's
character that even though his father has been an unkind parent, Harold still cares for
his dad. Money is an issue. Harold, who is a married man in his thirties,
worries about showing up at his father's factory in a cab—we sense
that he has been intimidated in the past:

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Better not arrive in a taxi, he was thinking. The
old man will wonder where I got the money
from.

The reader discovers
that family fights over money have also been a major concern for Harold and perhaps
caused him to distance himself from such turmoil—till
now.

Suddenly
all the money quarrels of the family, which nagged in the young man's mind, had been
dissolved. His dread of being involved in them vanished. He was overcome by the sadness
of his father's situation...I must see him. I must help
him.

When Harold arrives,
uncharacteristically, his father is very amiable. The reader learns of yet another way
the father has made Harold feel inferior, unappreciated and
unloved.

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"Come in, Professor," said the father. This was
an old family joke. He despised his son, who was, in fact, not a professor but a poorly
paid lecturer at a provincial
university.

Yet even though
his father despises him, still Harold comes to help the older man
as he transitions from success to bankruptcy. Harold watches the older man and realizes
something about his father's faces:
there are two! He has a bigger face—which shows a hard heart. The small face is gentler
towards Harold. Harold is probably used to seeing the bigger, bullying
face.

Some essence of this hardness is apparent as the
father criticizes Harold's hair loss. The father mentions it twice—in a heavy-handed
way:

Do you
know, you're actually more bald at the back than I thought. There's a patch there as big
as my hand. I saw it just then. It gave me quite a shock. You really must do something
about it. How are your teeth? That may have something to do with it. Hasn't Alice told
you how bald you are?

Again,
Harold is put down. Then we learn that Harold has come to the aid of a father who has
" href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/swindle">swindled" others
in business. In spite of this painful knowledge, Harold supports his
dad.

Surprisingly, his father
announces:

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I've done with money. Absolutely done and
finished with it. I never want to see another penny as long as I
live.

Then Harold musters the
courage to tell his dad why he came:

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I'm not rich. None of us is...we can't do
anything. I wish I could, but I can't...But the idea of your being—you know, well short
of some immediate necessity, I mean—well, if it is ever a question of—well, to be frank,
cash, I'd raise it somehow."

He
coloured. He hated to admit his own
poverty...

One truth, shared
on the first page of the story, is that Harold knew his father.
Perhaps he is not terribly surprised by his father's response—soon
we learn that nothing has
changed:

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"Raise it?" said the old man sharply. "Why didn't
you tell me before you could raise money? How can you raise it? Where? By
when?"

Harold comes to the
aid of a father who despises him—and to a dishonorable man. He
wants to help. His father, however, only values the money Harold
might raise—money still means everything to Harold's
father.

Harold is a good, caring son, and a fine man who is
disturbed by his dad's dishonesty. He is obviously forgiving—he puts aside his own pain
to help his father.