Ida's Father in Trust: The Anarchist Printer and His Hidden Past

Overview

Ida's father, the unnamed Italian immigrant and anarchist typographer, is one of the most morally potent figures in Hernán Díaz's Trust. Living in self-imposed exile in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, he represents the physical world of craft and labor that stands in stark opposition to the abstract world of Wall Street finance embodied by Andrew Bevel. A proud and isolated anarchist who raised Ida alone, his rigid political convictions and carefully guarded secrets create the ethical and emotional foundation of her narrative.

Background and Chronological Arc

Ida's father was born in Oliveto Citra, Campania, near the birthplace of anarchist founder Errico Malatesta. According to the outline of Chapter 26, he was nearly illiterate until a young priest tutored him. After working a season in a marble quarry in Carrara, he returned to the south completely transformed—estranged from his father, his faith, and his country. He joined regional anarchist groups and discovered a natural talent for hand-typesetting during the production of propaganda documents.

As political pressure intensified and comrades were arrested, he fled Italy for the United States with a close friend. In Brooklyn, he established a manual print shop and cultivated a stubborn pride in his obsolete craft, refusing to adopt automated machines like the Linotype. He lived an insular life, bounded by the Italian enclave and his anarchist circle.

His relationship with young Ida was rich and creative. He printed her childhood book Sept histoires (Seven Stories) in a single-copy edition and collaborated with her on a neighborhood newspaper called L'Hebdomadaire de Carroll Gardens. Together they mockingly recited the poetry of Arturo Giovannitti—a ritual that, decades later, Ida recognized as her father's self-directed mockery of his own unfulfilled ambitions.

In 1938, Ida took a secretarial job at Bevel Investments under a false name. Her father initially responded with cold hostility to her work for "the speculative machine." He eventually displayed grudging respect for her dedication to the labor itself, but their bond frayed under the strain of her sworn secrecy, as detailed in Chapter 41.

While packing to move to a Manhattan apartment arranged by Bevel, Ida searched her father's flat-file drawers for a nostalgic poster. Instead she discovered crumpled typewritten sheets with slightly over-inked "e"s and "i"s often missing their dots—details that tie the documents directly to the mysterious typed papers found earlier in the novel. This discovery hints at a hidden connection between her father's anarchist past and Bevel's secrets.

In his later years, Ida's father lived in squalor. After he died, Ida found a diary titled "Futures" hidden in a library ledger, stole it, and rationalized the theft as a long-delayed conversation, hoping to finally hear Mildred's true voice.

Motivations and Traits

Pride in Craft: He measured human worth by the standard of being a "real worker." His refusal to adopt the Linotype was not laziness but principle: he believed machines had chased the soul from the page.
Political Dogma: Anarchism defined his identity. He despised the state, the church, wedlock, and bourgeois celebrations—even as he meticulously printed wedding invitations for income.
Emotional Guard: He never apologized for anything in decades of life with Ida. He communicated love through actions rather than words, such as printing her childhood book or holding her hand when she announced her departure.
Jealousy and Bitterness: His hatred of poet Arturo Giovannitti was personal, not literary. Giovannitti, a near-doppelgänger from identical roots, achieved fame as a labor activist while Ida's father remained obscure and bitter.
Secretiveness: The hidden typed papers in his drawer suggest he held onto sensitive knowledge, perhaps about Bevel or the broader financial world he outwardly condemned.

Relationships

With Ida Partenza: This is the central relationship of Part Two. Her father was her first teacher, publisher, and censor. She learned narrative craft from him, but also witnessed the cost of ideological purity. The novel traces a deep, unresolved love marked by silences and rare moments of physical tenderness.
With Jack: Ida's suitor sees her father primarily as a source of authentic stories. Chapter 32 shows Jack captivated by the father's partisan tales, offering to publish them. The father enjoys the audience, but the bond is transactional rather than genuine.
With Andrew Bevel: The ideological enemy. Bevel represents everything Ida's father hates: finance capital, bourgeois power, and narrative control. The discovery of the typed papers raises the possibility of a more direct, hidden connection.

Key Decisions and Consequences

Refusing Automation: Guaranteed financial hardship but preserved ideological purity. It left him dependent on Ida in old age.
Printing Ida's Childhood Book: Validated her as an author at age nine. That single physical object becomes a lasting symbol of their bond and her early authorship.
Keeping the Typed Papers: Left a trail for Ida to uncover after his death, directly tying him to the novel's central enigma.
Letting Ida Go: When Ida announced she was moving out, he responded with tenderness instead of cold rage. This moment of selflessness allowed Ida to grow, even as she felt guilt for choosing Bevel over him.

Themes and Symbolic Connections

Narrative Unreliability and Truth: Ida describes her father as a vivid storyteller who rarely hesitated to sacrifice truth for effect. His stories varied by audience. He demonstrates that personal history is often shaped by the narrator's needs.
Wealth and Power: He is the human cost of Bevel's world. His obsolescence mirrors the erasure of working-class lives by financial narratives. The text suggests that those who resist capital are often crushed or forgotten.
Gender and Authorship: Her father gave Ida her first authorial identity, but he also dictated the tone of her early writing (mocking Giovannitti). Later, Ida writes his story, reclaiming authorship of his legacy.
Memory and Legacy: Ida's reflection on her father is an act of preservation. She clings to physical objects—the penny, the single-copy book, the circus poster—that embody their shared time.
Symbols:
- The Printing Press: Tangible, manual creation versus Bevel's abstract financial engineering.
- The Penny: After his death, he insisted on buying the knife she brought for a symbolic penny rather than accepting it as a gift. Ida keeps the penny as a representation of their complex, non-verbal bond.
- The Single-Copy Book: The ultimate emblem of intimate, non-commercial art—made entirely by hand for an audience of one.

Frequently Asked Questions About Ida's Father

How does Ida's father feel about her job at Bevel Investments?
He despises it. Working for "the speculative machine" violates his anarchist principles. He initially responds with a cold, hostile silence that only gradually yields to grudging respect for her dedication to the labor itself, not the institution.
Does Ida's father have a direct connection to the novel's central mystery?
Yes. While packing to move, Ida discovers crumpled typewritten sheets in his flat-file drawer. The distinct imperfections—over-inked "e"s and "i"s missing their dots—tie these documents to the mysterious typed papers that appear earlier in the novel, hinting at hidden knowledge about Bevel.
Why did Ida's father mock the poet Arturo Giovannitti?
The mockery was not literary criticism but personal jealousy. Giovannitti rose from identical Italian immigrant roots to fame as a labor activist and poet, while Ida's father remained obscure. Ida eventually realized the parody was self-directed: her father was asking her to laugh at his own unfulfilled dreams.
What was the most affectionate moment Ida shared with her father?
When she told him she was moving out, expecting cold fury, he took her hand and said the moment had come and that she had to leave one day. This rare physical tenderness, described in Chapter 49, was a profound gift of acceptance.
What does the penny symbolize in their relationship?
After his death, Ida recalls that he insisted on "buying" a knife she brought him for a symbolic penny rather than accepting it as a gift. She keeps the penny as a tangible representation of their deeply loyal but largely unspoken love for each other.

For a deeper exploration of related themes, see the guides on narrative unreliability and truth, wealth and power, and the ending explained.