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The Badness Within Him
The Badness Within Him
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,
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:
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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