I read with interest Terrence McCarthy’s guest column in the Aug. 28 Gazette [“Has Vance found his father figure?”]. Halfway through the column, I thought I had figured out where the writer was going, but he did not finish the way I had imagined. So I will.

After the tragedy of a life filled with an abusive, violent father, and subsequent carbon-copy sociopathic father figures who left him feeling empty and mistrustful, Vance has now found his latest sociopathic, abusive father figure. In some circles, this is called a repetition compulsion. Thanks for allowing me to connect the final dot.

George W. Kriebel

Northampton