How does Eggers present the relationship between him and Toph in chapters 1-5 of AHWOSG?

Eggers presents the relationship between Dave and Toph using humour actions and very strong imagery to highlight his younger self, like Dave's insecurities surrounding his parenting of Toph.

At the end of chapter 1 Eggers uses imagery "I take his hand...and fly up" this metaphor is significant because most readers would interpret this as Dave's sudden parental role over Toph and it is seen as the beginning of Dave's long parental relationship with Toph. The verb "take" implies that Dave is in control now and again links to him now having to be the new father figure to Toph. 

Eggers use of a discourse marker to contrast this initial positive impression with the difficulties Dave goes on to experience in chapter 2 "we'll look for a new bat". The noun "bat" is from the lexical field of baseball which could be seen by an older reader as a family (father to son) sport. Eggers in contrast presents the older brother figure by using the dynamic, transitive verb "push him in a bush" this shows the teasing abuse of a bigger brother's power. Eggers put both these actions in the same paragraph to really indicate the difference in the two types of relationships between Dave and Toph, and the immaturity of Dave. 

Eggers uses words from a lexical field of murder when describing Dave's feeling about leaving Toph alone "handcuffs, floorboards, clown suits..., knives, bathtubs, refrigerators". The use of asyndetic listing makes the reader feel like Dave's paranoia over this situation causes him to think of an endless list of what the babysitter can do to Toph. This could affect an older audience in a way because they would pity Dave over his insecurities over Toph's safety, because after all he is his carer/brother. Or contrastingly this could be interpreted as gallows humour which Eggers uses a lot throughout the memoir.

Dave is also presented by Eggers as sometimes needing to escape the parental role and actually go out with his friends "Toph, oh I haven't seen him for weeks" The informal tone created by the exclamatory "oh" creates irony and shows to younger readers that Dave can fool his friends and make them look gullible by believing the stories he tells about him and Toph, which may enhance enjoyment of the memoir. But to older readers this may make them gain negative feelings towards Dave and make them think why does he lie and why is he so false.