First scene of Doris Lessing's "The Fifth Child"

Résumé du document

This extract is the first scene of Doris Lessing's The Fifth Child, a book published in 1988 which deals with Ben a monster-like child whose birth deeply alters his parent's life.
This first scene introduces us to the main characters i.e. David and Harriet and sets the general tone of the story to continue. In this extract we are given insight into characters and their lifestyles, their moral and psychological traits.

I will study David and Harriet to see the stark contrast between them and their environment.

We first met David and Harriet David at an office party ,or they meet each other for the first time and right from the start it sets the tone with adjectives such as "conservative'' ,"old-fashioned" the narrator use them as "non-affectionate adjectives". We immediately feel that David and Harriet don't fit in and are not welcome by the rest of the crowd.

Extraits

[...] The use of pompous words like "fastidiousness" and "abstemiousness" makes them seem out of touch with reality as if they were from a different decade or century. The action begins in the sixties, a decade of change, and they seem to be stuck in more traditional times. Harriet blends into the decor so much that one cannot tell her dress is from a pastel painting (blur"). Or it matches with great vase of dried grass". This comparison clearly shows Harriet in a "dried' sense, that is stuck in old ways, and she is not up to date and she can be tagged as "unfashionable". [...]

[...] No matter what evolution society will go through, they will stick to the past and the live the outdated values that they cherish. Conclusion In this passage we are introduced to Harriet and David. Through semantics, Lessing depicts a rather grim portrait of these two. They seem to be stuck in the past, even though they are quite young. The noticeable contrast between them in the party and their motionless behaviours foreshadows what is to come in the story a constant battle between traditional and modem values. [...]

[...] She stood near a nice vase of dried grasses and leaves and her dress was something flowery. The Gazing eyes saw her curly dark hair, with blue eyes that were soft but thoughtful lips rather too firmly closed. In fact, all her features were strong and good and she was solidly built. A healthy young woman but perhaps belonged more at home or in a garden David had been standing just where he was for an hour ago, drinking judiciously, his serious grey-blue eyes taking their time watching how people engaged and separated, and rebound to each other. [...]

[...] Both had understood who the other was. Harriet was in the sales department of a firm that designed and supplied building materials and David was an architect." Introduction This extract is the first scene of Doris Lessing's The Fifth Child, a book published in 1988 which deals with Ben a monster-like child whose birth deeply alters his parent's life. This first scene introduces us to the main characters i.e. David and Harriet and sets the general tone of the story to continue. [...]

[...] First scene of Doris Lessing's Fifth Child” Harriet and David met each other at an office party, neither of them really wanted to go over there, but both of them knew that this was what they were all waiting for. Everyone called them as conservative, old fashioned, and not to mention, obsolescent; timid and hard to please: but they were not only the unaffectionate adjectives that they had earned. They also defended themselves from a stubbornly view, which was that they are ordinary and therefore they should not be criticised for emotional fastidiousness, abstemiousness, as these are all unfashionable qualities. [...]