I Love You, Man

While reading Willa Cather’s novel, The Professor’s House, that among many other themes discussed in class, there was a love affair of sorts taking place between Godfrey and Tom. At first it struck me as odd, that two heterosexual males could have such deep feelings for one another. In this case we focus more on Godfrey St. Peter’s love for Tom. As I read further I realized that this relationship was terribly reminiscent of what is today called a “Bromance”. Defined by urban dictionary as “the complicated love and affection shared by two straight males” or more specifically “The intense love shared between heterosexual males. A form of male bonding and usually invisible to the naked eye. This bond is normally only shared between two males that have a deeper understanding of each other, in a way no woman could ever realize.”

As one of St. Peter’s students, Tom was one of the few who left a mark in his life. He saw his desire to learn and passion for life and also saw in Tom his youthful self in Kansas. Their student-teacher relationship soon turned into a very special friendship, one that would change the professors life forever. It can be said that Godfrey loved Tom in a way that he did not anyone else. He found solace in Tom, they connected on a level that, throughout the novel, becomes clear that no one else could with Godfrey.

Throughout the beginning of the novel, we are given hints to Tom’s role in the professor’s life. We get a sense of the void left in Godfrey’s life due to Tom’s death, but it isn’t until the middle/end that we get the full effect. I think that the void just began to grow bigger and bigger as time went by instead of healing. The Professor had a hard time letting go because his life was changing in ways he was not ready to handle causing him to constantly look backward at the days he wished still existed.

It could be said that the bromance between Outland and St. Peter began when they became friends, but I believe that the friendship became concrete after Outland’s death, as strange as that may sound. It seems that the problems that occurred in Godfrey’s family pushed him to become a bit more nostalgic and to hold on to Outland’s memory even more. Godfrey was a man who had high expectations and morals and the this affinity for society and wealth that his family picked up is seen a betrayal to him. To Godfrey, Tom represents the old life he lead. He admired how Tom treated his girls and how they were fascinated by him. He saw Tom and being pure and good and far from obsessed with the materialism and money that his family is now consumed by. It becomes clear that Godfrey’s isolation is mainly his way of holding on to the good, which is the past, and avoiding the avaricious which has become the present. St peter had a hard time understanding the women in his life and this caused him to turn to Tom. He wanted the days back when someone understood him, and what he wanted out of life. Godfrey is disappointed by the money that has been introduced to his daughter’s life and what it has done to his family. His way of dealing with it is basically by distancing himself from his family and grasping on to whatever he has left of “the good times”, mainly Tom.