--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: That night, I hated father. He smelt of…" description: "\"“That night, I hated father. He smelt of cabbage. There was cigarette ash all over his trousers. His untidy moustache was yellower and viler than ever ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5eb/mervyn-peake-2927_bourgeois_that-night-i-hated-father-he-smelt-of-ca_2798333.jpg" --- # That night, I hated father. He smelt of cabbage. There was… ![“That night, I hated father. He smelt of cabbage. There was cigarette ash all over his trousers. His untidy moustache was yellower and viler than ever with nicotine, and he took no notice of me. He simply sat there in his ugly arm-chair, his eyes half closed, brooding on the Lord knows what. I…” quote by Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5eb/mervyn-peake-2927_bourgeois_that-night-i-hated-father-he-smelt-of-ca_2798333.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5eb/mervyn-peake-2927_bourgeois_that-night-i-hated-father-he-smelt-of-ca_2798333.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5eb/mervyn-peake-2927_bourgeois_that-night-i-hated-father-he-smelt-of-ca_2798333.jpg) > ““That night, I hated father. He smelt of cabbage. There was cigarette ash all over his trousers. His untidy moustache was yellower and viler than ever with nicotine, and he took no notice of me. He simply sat there in his ugly arm-chair, his eyes half closed, brooding on the Lord knows what. I hated him. I hated his moustache. I even hated the smoke that drifted from his mouth and hung in the stale air above his head. And when my mother came through the door and asked me whether I had seen her spectacles, I hated her too. I hated the clothes she wore; tasteless and fussy. I hated them deeply. I hated something I had never noticed before; it was the way the heels of her shoes were worn away on their outside edges - not badly, but appreciably. It looked mean to me, slatternly, and horribly human. I hated her for being human - like father. She began to nag me about her glasses and the thread-bare condition of the elbows of my jacket, and suddenly I threw my book down. The room was unbearable. I felt suffocated. I suddenly realised that I must get away. I had lived with these two people for nearly twenty-three years. I had been born in the room immediately overhead. Was this the life for a young man? To spend his evenings watching the smoke drift out of his father's mouth and stain that decrepit old moustache, year after year - to watch the worn-away edges of my mother's heels - the dark-brown furniture and the familiar stains on the chocolate-coloured carpet? I would go away; I would shake off the dark, smug mortality of the place. I would forgo my birthright. What of my father's business into which I would step at his death? What of it? To hell with it. ("Same Time, Same Place")”” [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator despises his parents and their domestic environment, feeling trapped and yearning for escape from familial expectations and the oppressive atmosphere of his childhood home. **In simple terms:** Hate for family and home drives desire to flee. Key Takeaway Recognize and confront oppressive family dynamics. Themes family rebellion identity escape domestic oppression Mood conflicted desperate reflective Type literary psychological autobiographical When to use this quote - adolescent crisis - family dinner - inheritance decision - personal liberation Key Concepts existential angst generational conflict psychological suffocation Questions to Reflect On - What would change if he faced his parents with empathy? - Can hatred be transformed into constructive change? A Different Perspective The narrator’s hatred may be a temporary emotional surge rather than a rational assessment of his situation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bourgeois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bourgeois/) [Bourgeoisie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bourgeoisie/) [Hated Father](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hated-father-1261871/) [Hated Human](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hated-human-381578/) [Hated Moustache](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hated-moustache-3430966/) [Hated Smoke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hated-smoke-246762/) [Human Hated](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-hated-381577/) [Parenting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parenting/) [Petulance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/petulance/) [Young man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/young-man/) ## Related quotes > [“Because never had I hated another human being more than I hated Paratore in that moment.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-tawn-bergren/because-never-had-i-hated-another-human-being-more-than-i-hated/) [Lisa Tawn Bergren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-tawn-bergren/) > [Run down the list of those who felt intense anger at something: the most famous, the most unfortunate, the most hated, the most whatever:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/run-down-the-list-of-those-who-felt-intense-anger-at-something-the/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [Why are the Jews hated? 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Are we to be the slaves of the sun, that second-hand, overrated knob of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/what-is-time-that-you-speak-of-it-so-subserviently-are-we-to-be-the/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [“He could now inhabit the world of words, with, at the back of his melancholy, a solace he had not known before”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/he-could-now-inhabit-the-world-of-words-with-at-the-back-of-his/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [“He had emptied the bright goblet of romance; at a single gulp he had emptied it. The glass of it lay scattered on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/he-had-emptied-the-bright-goblet-of-romance-at-a-single-gulp-he-had/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [“I want a big breakfast," said Fuchsia at last. "I want a lot to eat, I'm going to think today.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/i-want-a-big-breakfast-said-fuchsia-at-last-i-want-a-lot-to-eat-i-m/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [“Before it had awoke to die on the instant of its waking, a score of bells and clocks had shouted midday and for a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/before-it-had-awoke-to-die-on-the-instant-of-its-waking-a-score-of/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [“Gormenghast. Withdrawn and ruinous it broods in umbra: the immemorial masonry: the towers, the tracts. Is all corroding? No. Through an avenue of spires…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/gormenghast-withdrawn-and-ruinous-it-broods-in-umbra-the-immemorial/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [“I do not understand your love,' he said.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/i-do-not-understand-your-love-he-said/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [ \[Peake's books\] are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we never had before, and enlarge our conception of the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/peake-s-books-are-actual-additions-to-life-they-give-like-certain/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) > [Why break the heart that never beat from love?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mervyn-peake/why-break-the-heart-that-never-beat-from-love/) [Mervyn Peake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) [Explore all 143 Mervyn Peake quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mervyn-peake/) ## More Bourgeois quotes > [“Economists have a singular method of procedure. 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He simply sat there in his ugly arm-chair, his eyes half closed, brooding on the Lord knows what. I hated him. I hated his moustache. I even hated the smoke that drifted from his mouth and hung in the stale air above his head. And when my mother came through the door and asked me whether I had seen her spectacles, I hated her too. I hated the clothes she wore; tasteless and fussy. I hated them deeply. I hated something I had never noticed before; it was the way the heels of her shoes were worn away on their outside edges - not badly, but appreciably. It looked mean to me, slatternly, and horribly human. I hated her for being human - like father. She began to nag me about her glasses and the thread-bare condition of the elbows of my jacket, and suddenly I threw my book down. The room was unbearable. I felt suffocated. I suddenly realised that I must get away. I had lived with these two people for nearly twenty-three years. I had been born in the room immediately overhead. Was this the life for a young man? To spend his evenings watching the smoke drift out of his father's mouth and stain that decrepit old moustache, year after year - to watch the worn-away edges of my mother's heels - the dark-brown furniture and the familiar stains on the chocolate-coloured carpet? I would go away; I would shake off the dark, smug mortality of the place. I would forgo my birthright. What of my father's business into which I would step at his death? What of it? To hell with it. 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