Being constantly told that you are more special than you actually are, will in the end create an arrogant and isolated individual. At least that is what happens to the protagonist Nick, in the short story Back to Front from 2003 by Nicola Barker. Throughout his childhood, Nick’s mother, Grace was fussing about him - spoiling him even - slowly convincing him that he was in fact special and deserved special treatment. His mother justifies this with the fact that the doctors took the new-born Nick away from her, to examine him while she was left with her own thoughts, imagining the worst. Nick was taken away because the doctors were unable of hearing his heartbeat, even though the new-born appeared healthy and alive in every other way. The doctors found Nick to have a quite extraordinary condition; his insides were back to front.
Throughout the short story Nick is primarily described through his relations to others, as if he doesn’t matter or even exist on his own. In a way this applies to everyone; our relations define us as people. Right from the beginning of his life, Nick’s mother had defined him as a very special boy. He grew accustomed to the special treatment and expected it from his peers as well when he began in school. Nick however, did not appear special, and so the other children took him for being conceited, and next thing he knew, Nick’s social life was limited to his family. Yet not even here could he find the attention he had grown so dangerously addicted to, for his mother, Grace had remarried. Grace comes off like the stereotype of a bored housewife, needing something interesting to talk about in her life. When she got bored with Nick, got too used to him, she needed something new, leading to her getting a Nigerian husband.
“When Nick was aged fifteen, Grace remarried. His stepfather, Thomas Siswele, was Nigerian by birth. Grace thought Thomas was different, not ordinary like she and Nick were but, oh so special. He taught Grace how to cook groundnut stew with plantain.”
The author employs a particular narrative technique and unusual structure of sentences. The reader often comes across contrasts in the lengths of the sentences; a short sentence is frequently followed by a much longer and more complicated one, achieving two things; making the language alive and dynamic, as well as laying emphasis on the shorter of the two sentences. E.g. “But he heard nothing. Just the faintest scuddering; a faraway, dreamy sound, something so distant from white, harsh delivery chamber, the long, tiled hospital corridors, the clatter of trolleys, the banging of doors; something so soft and fragile, so remote, that it sounded like the peripheral scuffle and bicker of two wagtails arguing over a berry in a holly bush.” So many words are used to describe the sound of Nick’s heartbeat that most of them become superfluous and the reader is left with the gist of the matter: “he heard nothing”. Another example of this could be when the narrator lists all the different news read out by Thomas. It could have just said "He'd read out many types of news", but instead all these particular stories are mentioned, to make it appear as overwhelming as it does to Nick. Another distinctive feature in the language would be all the repetitions. “And there’s nothing worse than imagining. Not a thing.” It is clear that the purpose of the repition is to lay emphasis on the repeated word. The last three sentences in the story are; “Nick was very speical. Yes, he was. He was.” The double repetition makes it seem childish, especially because the sentences are very simple, yet could also be interpreted as the narrator trying to convince the reader of Nick’s being special. It comes off as a stubborn child not wanting to admit it’s mistake; someone certain of something would not have to repeat it. Maybe Nick wasn’t that special after all.
The police told Nick he was the boy who cried wolf, yet his childish cry for attention was never heard. The other children at his school didn’t pay him any attention, didn’t care about him, and this made Nick miss the days when they hated him – at least they acknowledge his existence at that time. Nick’s lack of social feedback made him so desperate that he went to the police, telling them about having comitted all sorts of criminal offences which he hadn’t done. Quite a few of the offences he admitted to having done, were things he had heard Thomas read aloud from the news paper and it becomes clear that Nick is on a quest: a quest of winning back his mother’s attention. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Nick is exactly like his mother in one particular way: they both need excitement in their lives. When Nick met Lyndon (in a police cell) he saw an excellent opportunity for something exciting to happen. He was looking for trouble as he provoked Lyndon, causing the latter to attack him with a knife. Just before Lyndon stabbed him, Nick was wondering whether “a plantain and a banana were the selfsame thing”, meaning he was wondering whether you can be the same even though you are different. He was probably on the cusp of realising that he might not be different from his peers, even though his insides were back to front. Tragically enough Nick was killed right before realising how he could change himself and his life for the better.
It is unhealthy for children to be isolated throughout their childhood. Love and attention in reasonable quantities will produce a thriving child but the balance is very delicate. Too little and the child will grow up angry and estranged, too much and the child might just end up just the same as if he got too little. It is usually not too late for the child to turn these things around, unfortunately it was for Nick.