Dan, Ajla, Maid, Dunja, Joanna

The Badness Within Him

by Susan Hill

Theme: Male Adolescence

The restlessness of adolescence: frustration with routine and being caught in between childhood and adulthood Cols desire for a storm or some kind of change to the hot, sunny weather that seemed dragging (adolescence)

aggression and violence against his family the end of childhood edi!us Com!le" # Also allusion to Oedipus complex, where son feels rivalry with his father and siblings for his mothers attention.

Purpose: To reflect on Cols rationali$ation of his fathers death% Clearly, there is no connection between his fathers unfortunate accident and Cols desire for swift change% &owever, with his fathers death, the chance for Col to be a child is lost and with no other means of rationali$ing such an irreversible event, he sees his fathers death as a !unishment for his wish for change and his negative behavior within his family during adolescence% To define the badness within him' good vs evil and the more im!licitly, the !osition of man before traditional constructions of (od # !rayer and !unishment

Col saw his father drowning but was emotionally distant until the very end of the story where he cathartically weeps. He blames himself: ! am punished." finally he #new the power of the $%adness within him$. %ut even while he prayed he had #nown that there could be no answer because of $&he badness within him $.

Structure: Chronological style combined with few flashbacks in which Col remembers his childhood and family when he was younger% )rom the starting !oint of the !rayer to
Cols res!onse to his !rayer after it is fulfilled within the s!ace of *+ hours%

Can be divided into three !arts childhood, !resent (before fathers death) and uncertain future (after fathers death)% He thin#s bac# on the past, were he felt good time in the summerhouse, were he felt li#e being apart of the family, while Cole and 'ess still were fitting" together, and able to have fun and en(oy their time together. )*efer to +uotes in section mood,.

Imagery: ,%the Cliff his (self#)alienation from his family' his ability to view his life and family from a detached and distanced view where he is large and everyone he sees is beneath him% Col has a su!eriority com!le", believing that his family is content with routine and uninteresting activities *% sandcastle (meta!hor for the family), the tower coming down first% - castle made of sand is fragile his family relationshi!s are unstable% &e kicks the sandcastle )He wanted to do some violence in this house, and the tower falls first the tower re!resents his father which is a foreboding of his fathers !ending accident and death% .t also relates to edi!us com!le" where absent/dead fathers are connected to the male childs desire for the mothers attention 0% colors which re!resented Col1s family used when he was looking at the dots from the cliff +% 2adness analogy: like a cancer illness/madness of adolescence% %ut even while he prayed he had #nown that there could be no answer, because of the badness within him, a badness which was living and growing li#e a cancer
3% 2lack dog on his shoulder - !erfectly enormous, coal black, monster of a dog # a black dog has often been associated with evil or the 4evil% This is another allusion to Cols badness% (5 T6: 2-45677 is an informal word% The correct term is

evil% (ood vs evil)% - dog is also an animal or a beast which has the connotation of being irrational and !ossibly violent 8% -nalogy sea still like glass% 7tillness/stagnation/!aralysis of adolescence is likened to glass that can be shattered in a moment, which is what ha!!ens when Cols father dies% 9% The house meta!hor for the family% 7ee characteri$ation setting% :% The weather re!resents Cols state of mind (see Characterisation of setting) ;% the storm change/ drastic change from the hot summer

Mood: 4e!ressive the tone is des!erate and ho!eless in the beginning when he !rays% The tone is also angry and frustrated%

5ostalgic when he reminisces about the time when they were all younger (flash

backs), the mood/his mind seems to change into a ha!!ier state, when he thin#s about the time he spent with his sister, 'ess, in their summerhouse when they were younger, He and 'ess had collected buc#ets full of sea creatures from the roc# pools and put them into a glass a+uarium in the scullery"- He and 'ess had sat up all night by moon or candles watching them". o!!ressive !resent situation, his adolescence tense, dark and ominous as if a storm were brewing his aggressive behavior' tone is one of anger, frustration and rage
vacant/emotionless after the fathers death # tone: detached cathartic when he wee!s and reali$es that it is the end of his childhood as he had longed for% Tone ho!eless, regretful, guilt#ridden

Characterization:

Col

frustrated # .or days now Col had wanted to +uarrel. How he ever been able to bear it/ And he cast about, in his frustration, for some terrible events, as he felt the misery welling up inside him at the beginning of another day. ! hate it here.",. confused with his familys dislike and alienation of him: )'ess loo#ed up slowly. &his year for the first time, Col felt the difference in age between them, 'ess was changing moving away from him, to (oin the adults,, ) when 'ess sits and play with the baby together with .ay and the mom where he is left out of the play, attention#seeking male adolescent lacking his family1s attention: His violent actions seem to be a cry for attention: 0hat is happening with me"/ 0hy do !" have these thoughts/ 0hy do ! have these feelings, a part of the fact of going from childhood1 adulthood,

o 6"!eriences an awful feeling of re<ection: always get pushed

away, no one is there for him, in the sand castle episode, his mom pushes him away, instead of as#ing him what is wrong,"0hy dont you go have a swim/ Cant you find something to do/ ! really disli#e you (ust hovering over us li#e that" or the example with 'ess has been growing away from him, the person that he used to have is suddenly gone , o )eels violent: )He wanted to do some violence in this house 2 he hated his family,
o &as a very negative/low self#!erce!tion believes that his !rayers

will not be answered because of his badness% 2elieves that his fathers death is his fault because of his badness% &he fog horn sounded outside. &hen he #new that the change had come, #new that the long hot summer was at an end, and that his childhood had ended to, that they would never come bac# to this house again. He #new, finally the power of the badness within him, and because of that , standing close to his fathers body, he wept".

=ess#his sister% 7he is few years older than he is% 7he used to be close to Col when they were younger children but she does not want to !lay with him anymore% =ess had already !assed through adolescence and now has learnt to fit into the world of grown#u!s%

)ay#his other sister% 7he had <ust given birth so her whole attention is on her baby as is the attention of his familys% The baby re!resents the other e"treme in the continuum between child and adult% Col is caught right in between% >other# s!ends a lot of her time with the sister% ?ushes Col away during the sandcastle incident on the beach when he starts behaving anti#socially )ather hardly any mention of him e"ce!t that he <oins the family in the afternoon after work% 7uggests the absence of the fathers attention% &is death relates to edi!us com!le" see Characterisation, sandcastle% )amily# ty!ical modern family with lack of time for children 7etting:
o

weather reflects Cols state of mind e%g% hot summer (summer is the middle of the year in the northern hemis!here) o!!ressive stagnation, fog uncertainty of the future% The fog alarm suggests a warning of an uncertain future house and rooms @eflects the familys state% Col reflects on the different !arts of the house in their !ast and !resent states% The house used to be well# maintained but is now in !oor condition, dila!idated and untidy # the deck chairs% There is one room which is well#maintained where he feels most comfortable and nostalgic in it%

Narration: Third !erson, sym!athetic with Cols !oint of view% 5arrator: The narrator could be an older Col reflecting on the child, Col, in hindsight Tone: 7ee >ood 3uestions on the restlessness of adolescence:

Ahy is he !raying for bad weather and stormsB (.s he !raying for something bad to ha!!enB Ahat is the stormB Ahy does he go to the cliffB

Ahy does he feel guiltyB

Ahat is the badness within himB