Zusammenfassung der Ressource
The Fifth Child
- Ben Kills the Dog
- "She locked Ben in: if he
could kill a dog, then why
not a child?"
- The family see what
Ben is really capable
of
- Instead of getting
Ben the
professional help
he needs, they
shun him aside
- Out of sight,
out of mind
- The Office Party
- "They talked as if talk
were what had been
denied to them both"
- David and Harriet
are soul mates
- Like Ben, only they are
not alone because
they found each other
- Ben's Birth
- "She had been waiting to
exchange looks with the
creature who, she had
been sure, had been
trying to hurt her, but
there was not recognition
there."
- Immediately
rejected by Harriet
- Harriet does not even
see him as her own
son
- The Insitituion
- "Rows of freaks, nearly all
asleep, and all silent. They
were literally drugged out of
their minds."
- Shows how widespread
the issue is
- Almost dystopian,
shows how
important it is to
solve the issue
- Ben is not one of a
kind, there are others
like him
- "His pale yellow
tongue protruded
from his mouth.
His flesh was dead
white, greenish."
- Ben is clearly in an
unhealthy state due to
his poor treatment
- Makes the reader
question who the evil
people really are, the
different or those who
treat them
- Pregnancy
- "It was not possible that
such a tiny creature could
be showing such fearful
strength; and yet it did."
- The baby is
supernatural and of
another species
- First sign of Ben's
threating and
menacing violence
- "This foetus - this creature
with whom she was locked
in a struggle to survive."
- Harriet doesn't
think of Ben as a
'baby'
- There is a lack of
motherly connection and
bonding
- Rejected by his
creator
- The House
- "Even with David's quite
decent salary, and
Harriet's, the mortgage
of this house be beyond
them."
- They are taking on a huge
responsibility and they don't
have the means to sustain it
- They are relying
on others to build
their dream
- 4 Children
- "They drank
champagne, and
poured some on
little Luke's head. It
was 1966."
- Sense of
celebration
- The vision is
becoming a
relaity
- Ben Hurts Luke
- "Paul had put his hand in to Ben through the
cot bars, and Ben had grabbed the hand and
pulled Paul hard against the bars, bending
the arm deliberately backwards."
- Ben easily hurts people,
showing that he is not an
ordinary child
- He hurts his own sibling,
showing just how malicious
he is
- "They did not bother to
scold Ben, who was
crowing with pleasure
and achievement."
- They are perhaps
scared of Ben and
that is why they don't
punish him
- Ben shows no remorse
which shows how
malicious and evil he is
- He is almost sociopathic
- John's Gang
- "Ben spent all his
time with John."
- Ben is looking for
attention and
affection
elsewhere
- He has finally been
accepted and has
integrated himself into
a part of society
- Ben's Gang
- "They were a bunch of
gangly, spotty, uncertain
adolescents."
- A group of
society's
rejects
- John's gang was the
only time Ben had
ever felt accepted, so
he builds his own
gang
- "Muggings,
hold-ups,
break-ins...rapes
too."
- Crimes increasing in
severity show how
dangerous he has become