Father's & Sons.2

[Terrance]

David Morris asks, 

"Is Slothrop a programmed machine, responding to the stimuli
of his makers?  
Or is he a reluctant hero, performing a mission because he
has no 
alternative?  The only difference between these two is the
consciousness and 
will of the hero.  Is he merely a dull machine or a tragic
slave?"



			In the story of Nathaniel's
                    childhood, the figures of his father and
                    Coppelius represent the two opposites
into
                    which the father-imago is split by his
                    ambivalence; whereas the one threatens
to blind
                    him - that is, to castrate him - the
other, the
                    'good' father, intercedes for his sight.
The part
                    of the complex which is most strongly
repressed,
                    the death-wish against the 'bad' father,
finds
                    expression in the death of the 'good'
father, and
                    Coppelius is made answerable for it.

http://www.13am.net/iconoclast/ecrivains/hoffmann2.html