I believe that the story of the father in “The Leading Man” is more important than one might think. The story seems to focus mainly on the boy with keys for fingers, and the father takes a back seat. But the father plays a more important role that just being a background story. Throughout his life, the boy focuses on his hands, and what his fingers might open. Slowly, he figures them out, one by one. The one thing he can’t seem to figure out is his father.
The first thing we learn about the father is that he is away fighting in a war that is completely secret. No one can know about it. That shrouds the father in mystery right away. His son wants to know everything about his father. He wants to have a key on his hand that will open his father up, and make him tell all of his secrets. This desire is mentioned a few times throughout the story. I think that this is why the boy has nine fingers that are keys and not ten. I think the plain finger is representative of this inability to “open” his father. The boy eventually accepts this, and just makes adjustments to fit his father back into his life, like having a night wedding.
When he finally figures out what his last key finger opens, the boy momentarily accepts this vision of him as a hero. But instead of flaunting it, he instead gives the medal to his father. I believe the moment of figuring out what his last key opens is important because the boy is now complete, and he is now like everyone else in the world, and every door is just as closed to him as to everyone else. He is in fact “normal”. I believe that the boy giving his medal to his father is an acknowledgment of his father’s being “normal”, despite his quirks, and still being his leading man.
Excellent observations about the significance of the father in the story. I particularly like your observation that perhaps the leading man has one "normal" finger to represent the fact that he cannot unlock everything he wishes--namely his father. It is interesting how at several points throughout the story he wishes he could use his keys to unlock certain people, but the people he encounters are ultimately not doors and remain a secret to him in one way or another.
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