Perhaps he could not forgive her for making him feel like a cruel father.
Carl is the son of a cruel father who worked in a carpet factory, and made him work there as a child, even on Christmas.
In his dreams the man had been a devil to him, a cruel father and a master.
He'd been thrown out by his cruel father and he had nowhere to go.
Don't go spoiling everything good that will come along in the future because you had a cruel father.
What better way to avenge himself on a cruel father?
Oh, what a cruel father you have, my sweet one.
The young Maria, as she learns things, imagines her aunt's youth, cruel father, and first love.
She lived in a bad family, with a cruel father and a mean mother.
Identification, so that the cruel father could not track them down.