Read the passage from the phantom tollbooth. It’s all in the way you look at things. In this passage Alec is defining

the scene now shifts back to the shelby plantation in kentucky, where  aunt chloe  has just received the letter tom wrote her with little eva's . mrs. shelby tells her husband about the letter, in which tom says that although his new family is kind, he still longs to return to his "real home."

mr. shelby, in the meantime, has still been plagued by debt. mrs. shelby offers to raise money, especially so that they can buy tom. mr. shelby becomes angry, and his wife lets the unlikely hope drop for the present. chloe then calls for mrs. shelby and asks if she could be hired out as a pastry cook in louisville in order to earn money for tom. mrs. shelby gives chloe her blessing.

the father plays a very vital role in the life of the narrator in the story. the father is that person who may be physically absent but is also the one who just existed in the mind or the memory of the narrator. in the mind of the storyteller, his father during the time he was with their family was dutiful, orderly and straightforward. but when the narrator was asked who has always the final say, it would always be the mother. it is because of the father’s departure that made the authority of the mother waive and became questionable. the father’s leaving really made a big impact in his family’s lives. the father never set foot on land and he was more towards the lonely nature because as the story said he never acknowledged the existence of his family after his departure but it is implied to the reader that the reason why the father stayed and rowed nearby to maintain togetherness.