2
by Garth
Tony's dad issues are complex, for the longest time he looked up to his dad, which was really a mask for despising him. This revelation was brough up through Melfi's help. The reasons for Tony's hate?
*Johnny never quite protected him in the way he wanted from Livia. He was always much more interested in protecting his own skin and getting out of the house to further his mob status. As poor a father as Tony might be, there have been numerous examples of Tony attempting to try to spend more time with his children and connect in ways that Johnny never did.
*Johnny pushed him (to a certain extent) to become involved in the mob. This is even more evidenced in "Remember When", when we find out Johnny actually helped him in through his first kill. Tony somewhat wishes he was not in organized crime, but feels he had no choice in the matter. For this, there is strong resentment for his father.
*Johnny's goomar, Fran, pushed Johnny to neglect Livia and his family. Specifically when Livia was put in the hospital and Johnny was out with Fran. Tony was forced to lie for him. If Livia had not already hated Tony, at this point he became a focus for Livia's anger.
*Johnny used his family to help his mob-life. This is shown in the first flashback of the show. Johnny uses Janice as a front to conduct business at the carnival. If you think about it, this very idea is what Tony has fought against his entire life. Keeping his two lives seperate is paramount. This is partly why he rages on Coco in "The Second Coming". This is an affront to Meadow, for sure. But, also, the line that is drawn between Tony as a mob boss and Tony as a family man is starting to disintegrate. This is unacceptable (and scary) for Tony.
As far as Tony murdering his father or a father figure by helping Chris...I will keep it short and sweet, as I am sure it has been discussed in another thread. Tony keeps mentioning the child's seat in Chris's car and how the child would have been horribly disfigured. To this extent, he is saying, "look at Chris...as a father, he would have killed his own child by his negligence".
This is also symbolic of Tony's father through a chain of comparisons. In "Walk Like a Man", during Chris's BBQ, Chris is compared to Dickie Moltisanti (his father) using their addictive behaviors as a point of reference, in "For All Debts..." in season 4, Tony compares Dickie Moltisanti as a surrogate father. (Also, you can take this for what it's worth, but if memory serves, Christopher thinks Dickie was bringing in a child seat when he is killed. Tony corrects him, that they were television trays, but they could have easily been child seats, again this is if memory serves, I might be incorrect) to Tony. So if Dickie is a surrogate father, I am sure he had some displaced anger towards Dickie, based on what Tony felt about Johnny. Follow that chain that Chris is following in Dickie's footsteps, it becomes pretty easy to see that Tony was symbolically killing his father.