Essay Questions

Why are Harriet's family so angry with her?

Nobody begrudges Harriet and David their first child, even if he did arrive several years earlier than planned. They don't even mind that they had a second child by the end of the same year, or that another follows. Their home is so filled with laughter and love and happiness that the family gravitate to them like a beacon; nobody thinks to be angry because the children have brought so much light into their lives. Child four is loved too, and thrives, but also creates some bad feeling between Sarah, Harriet's sister, and herself. Sarah resents the attention that Harriet gets from their parents, particularly their mother, Dorothy, who is always helping her, but never giving Sarah any assistance at all with her own children. Sarah is angry that Harriet has breezed through life with a general lack of responsibility and still seems to get rewarded for her selfish behavior.

When Harriet gives birth to Ben, the family seem to blame her for the fact that he is a bad seed. They are far more angry with Harriet than they are with David, who has absolved himself for any responsibility for the boy, and who does not even feel as though the child belongs to him. Harriet does not like Ben particularly, nor is she bonded with him, but she devotes all of her attention to him at the expense of her other children. This is why her parents are so angry with her.

The family believe Ben to be from outside the human world. Are they justified in thinking this?

Ben has an appearance that seems to evoke the otherworld. Is he a gnome? A changeling? They don't know, but they are strongly suspicious of this. Ben has all the attributes of a sociopath. At a very early age, he begins to mimic what his siblings are doing, in terms of their interaction with each other and with their parents. He does not feel empathy but he knows how to mirror it, making it seem as though he is starting to understand all of the age appropriate social cues. Ben does what benefits Ben, at the same time, fooling others at school into thinking that he is acting in the same way as his classmates.

When Harriet sees Ben with his friends she cannot decide if he has genuinely found the people he should be with, or if he is copying what they are doing when they interact with each other so that he can fit in the group. This also suggests a sociopathic personality, as his friendship is the appearance of a relationship rather than an actual relationship which benefits both people. Ben is a skilled mimic, but seems to feel little or no empathy or emotion for others that is genuine.