eine Analyse :)

[sanane11]

Hallo, 

 Hier ist ein neuer Text von mir . Diesmal ist es eine Analyse

Ich habe mir mal die Aufgabenstellung : "analyse how Ben is characterised in this excerpt by his mother  " gegeben.

The novel "The Fifth Child" written by Doris Lessing which was  first published in 1988, and describes the drastic changes in the happy life of a married couple living in London in the 1960s, as a consequence of their fifth child Ben is told trough the eyes of the young  mother, Harriet. 

In this excerpt it is Christmas time and the whole family comes together in the young couples' home. 

Harriet describes her baby in a way that arouses the readers pity ; " Ben watched [ his sister] "who  had longed to make a pet of Ben( but ) was now able to love Amy [her cousin], silent" (p. x).
As the reader was informed before, she speaks about Ben, who has according to  her description of him some chapters before, yellow eyes, a heavy body and pale skin . Considering Harriet's observation, Ben seems to frighten other children because of his uglyness and therefore is not loved ,even by his own sister . Harriet seems to degrade Ben to a pet  by saying that " [her daughter] longed to made a pet of Ben  but  now was able to love Amy".Her Intention is to portray Ben as a frightening animal to arouse  a feeling of pity for Ben in the reader who is saddened by Bens faith .But the reader also knows that Ben is only two month old at this time and cannot be played with because of his age.

In the next lines she focuses on little Amy's behaviour towards Ben by telling that " she suddenly became silent; her face was woeful, and she backed away, staring at him . Just like the poor cat ( Ben was believed to kill before) ". Harriet continues to create a scary image of Ben by telling that not only human and pets are  also afraid of the babies  appearance. She creates the image of a not loved child but forgets that little children as Amy's or her daughter's behaviour cannot  be seen as a proof for Ben being an avoided baby .


Later the reader finds Harriet asking herself "What was [Ben] ?".She does not seem to accept Ben even herself. Moreover by using the word "what" she stresses her incapibility to call him a human. She shows that she cannot understand him which is a sad reality because not be seen as a human by someone's own mother is enormous sad. A mother who cannot call her baby a human cannot be able to understand the feelings or needs or her child, too. 

Der Rest kommt später

[sanane11]

Moreover, Harriet later tells that Amy " began to  cry whenever she saw him" (p.x ). Here again, she accuses Ben's present to cause Amy to cry. Her intention is to create a feeling of ( Abneigung) in the audience who read before how scary Ben is . However, the audience knows that Amy is between one and two years old which is why she can be loved by and played with in whereas Ben. In addition the reader suggests that children which are in the same age as Amy could also cry because they are hungry or want to be loved. Harriet makes little Ben  who cannot walk, speak, hurt somebody responsible for everything.

This excerpt shows how much Harriet hates Ben. She showed her ( Abneigung)  at the very beginning of the novel and  continues to show it by blaming him for everything that occurs. Harriet's behaviour is human; she tries to make Ben her scapegoat to distract the reader of her own unability to be a good mother which is why she sees everything bleak.