The Father Thing

In The Father Thing, Philip K. Dick gives an interesting insight of how powerful the imagination of child is. The Father Thing provides contrasting views of imagination through Charles and his mother as believer and nonbeliever. This is portrayed when Charles’s mother discredits what he saying about the father thing and tries to find logical reason why Charles would say that her husband is talking to himself. Charles himself has to deal with the situation that he is confronted by the father thing and seek help from Tony Peretti. Unlike his mother, Peretti does not question Charles and believes him whole heartedly. K. Dick gives the theme that children are all knowing, but is threaten by the laws of logic and reality. From my perspective, I feel that the underlining message is that there is a threat to individualism.