Well, we definitely haven't seen the mom, even in memory, right?

I think at least part of his revenge was for Roger's "swallowing your g's" offhand comment.

Well, we definitely haven't seen the mom, even in memory, right?

Good point -- but I'd say there's passing going on either way; he's desperate to not have people find out that he doesn't (in that world, of course) rate the social position he appears to have. In other words, I agree about your read on the swallowing G's comment.

Well, we definitely haven't seen the mom, even in memory, right?

I think that his mom died and his dad remarried. When he was talking to his brother, he talked about how Adam's mother took great pains to remind him that she was not his mother.

The only problem I have with this, is the flashback Don had when he fell down the stairs on Mother's Day. Unless that flashback wasn't accurate for some reason, the family (to me) looked rather well off and not the kind of childhood I'd be ashamed of. Except for the hair cut.

Well, perhaps his family's circumstance's changed after that time.

It definitely wasn't the sort of warm supportive family one might dream of for oneself, though. But there must have been more than that to incur the sort of vitriol Don voiced about Adam's mother.

The mom is definitely absent in his past. And it would take an odd circumstance, wouldn't it, to place the child with his father if it had just been a split? So dead, insane, illegitimate, or the wrong race. And now that I think about it, even illegitimate would probably place the kid with the mom so that dad could ignore him, eh?

I wonder about class status. We tend to pretend we don't have classes in America, but we definitely do, and we definitely did then.

We tend to pretend we don't have classes in America, but we definitely do, and we definitely did then.

What was Pete's salary? $75 a week or something? And yet, untouchable because of his Mother's maiden name.

Unless that flashback wasn't accurate for some reason, the family (to me) looked rather well off and not the kind of childhood I'd be ashamed of. Except for the hair cut.

Maybe his mother worked for the family? I definitely get the impression that Don grew up working class.

I saw the flashback as Don being introduced to his new half brother. How old is Don? When do we think he was born?

There was a fairly high mortality rate at the time (if I remember correctly) it wouldn't have been uncommon for a mother and child to die in childbirth, or his mother could have died from some illness. It's not a far stretch from that for Don's father to favor his new wife and son over Don. Especially if he considered Don to be a "difficult" child after his mother's death and thus be distant to him.

Or Don could have been sent to live with relatives until his father remarried and had made a "suitable" home for him. It wasn't uncommon for children to be sent to live with relatives. Both my parents had cousins live with them for various reasons.

I definitely get the impression that Don grew up working class.

Yes. The fact that Adam is a janitor points to this as well.