This Boys Life

This Boy's Life is a 1993 film adaptation of the memoir of the same name by Tobias Wolff. Nomadic, flaky Caroline Wolff just wants to settle down in one place, find a decent guy, and provide a better home for her and her son, Toby. When she moves to Seattle and meets the seemingly respectable Dwight Hansen (in real life Dwight Thompson worked as a mechanic for Seattle City Light at the time), she thinks she has got it made. Toby, however, feels differently after Dwight's true personality is revealed after spending a few months with Dwight and his children away from Caroline. The boy's stepfather-to-be seems to want to mold Toby into a better person, but his method includes emotionally, verbally, and physically abusing the boy. The marriage proceeds, and soon Caroline, too, recognizes Dwight's need to dominate everyone around him. She sticks with it, though, convinced it is the best thing for her son, and several years of dysfunction ensue. During this time, Toby befriends another misfit, the possibly homosexual young Arthur, while continuing to chafe under the yoke of his repressive stepfather.