Commentary Fifth Child Extract 2

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This excerpt is taken from Doris Lessing’s novel The Fifth Child, a book published in 1988. In this novel, the famous English politically committed writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007, tells the story of Harriet and David’s life which starts with a meeting at an office party. Their colleagues called them obsolescent, old-fashioned, not to say conservative. Just after this party, they can’t stop discussing because they found their soul mate and therefore, both realize they have the same values and priorities : fidelity, family life and love. Thus they decided to get married and to purchase a big house. The scene takes place on the afternoon they moved in their large Victorian house, during early spring : Harriet and David are discovering the house they have bought and they are about to make love for the first time. On the one hand, we will see the thoughts and feelings of the couple when they are discovering this haven of peace, and we will show on the other hand how their happiness becomes a disillusion. In fact, at the beginning of this extract, we can feel Harriet and David are blissfully happy and according to them this is an ideal place for a perfect life. First and foremost, we have a complete description of their mansion and how they react discovering it. As regards their coming in front of the house at the beginning of the excerpt, an atmosphere of happiness is conveyed : “they stood hand by hand’ line 1-2, “birds singing all around them” line 2. They are very happy because it represents for us their dream and the beginning of their family life. Besides, we follow the couple while they are discovering the different rooms : “they unlocked their front door” line 1, ‘they went on up” line 18, “They slowly descended the stairs, one flight, two, passing rooms, and rooms” line 27/28. For that matter, one may have the impression of a travelling

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