The Art Of Fielding Relationships Essay

1001 Words3 Pages

Relationships are what make humans strong, but what if those same interactions lead to one’s failure? Relationships, failure and perfection are central themes threaded throughout Chad Harbach’s novel, The Art of Fielding. The friendship between Henry Skrimshander and Mike Schwartz starts off like any other healthy functional friendship, but quickly transforms into obsessing over perfection and one another. This growing friendship between Henry and Mike is better defined as a codependent relationship. In which, Mike and Henry care more about the other person than themselves. Their mutual goal of perfection pushes both of them into addictions, failure and mental issues. The codependent relationship between Henry and Mike drives both characters …show more content…

Henry leaving gave him the opportunity to create a better life for himself, which is ironic since his relationship with Mike ultimately ruins his future. Nevertheless, Henry viewed Mike as a savior and suffered through “twelve long lonely weeks before he’d finally called”. The language used by Harbach to describe Henry's original feelings about Mike, portrays Mikes as some sort of religious prophet. He felt isolated and alone and when he reconciled with Mike, Henry worshiped him. The pain Henry encounters during his time without Mike was the first sign that Henry's mental health was weakened by their relationship. Henry did anything and everything to please Mike and as a result of his obedience, Mike adored Henry. Mike enables Henry’s addictive behavior by giving him positive feedback for his obsessive behavior. He pushes Henry during the baseball season to his breaking point, his first error. When Henry makes his first mistake, to end his record breaking streak, he cannot cope with the failure. Mike coaches Henry to believe that achieving perfection is the sole purpose of his life. Henry not being able to achieve the goal set by Mike results in Henry falling into a dark depression and anorexia. Instead of Mike turning to a professional for help, he believed that he could save Henry. Similarly to what he did with Henry’s obsession over perfection, Mike enabled Henry’s self destructive

Open Document