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The Fifth Child

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Submitted By charlottee
Words 1034
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David and Harriett Lovatt are an ambitious couple in the seventies in England: their ambition is not a professional but a personal one. They want to have a big happy family, even if this is against the trend of the times. They buy a big house that they can’t afford and plan to have at least six children, possibly eight. They have one, the second follows shortly after, soon they have four. People enjoy staying at their place and family and friends gather in the big house during the holidays. Until the day Harriet is pregnant with her fifth child, Ben…
The four previous pregnancies were no breeze, but the fifth is nightmarish. The baby moves in Harriett’s womb as if it were trying to claw its way out. It almost kills her. When the child is born, at eight months, Harriett takes an immediate dislike to it. The baby is ugly, strong, with cold eyes and an unusual strength. Ben does not react to marks of affection (that the mother must force herself to show), and is immediately viewed by her as a freak of nature. She thinks of him as a troll or a goblin, a genetic throwback.
Growing up, Ben vents his rage at the world. He howls, screams, fight, and attracts the antipathy of everyone around him. Soon people almost cease to visit. The Lovatts kids fear their own brother, an atmosphere of weariness and unhappiness pervades. By his disturbing presence, Ben destroys his own family…
The Fifth Child is a short novel, about 130 pages, and can be read as a philosophical tale. Many things are not as straightforward as they look in Ben’s monstrosity. The fact is that the Lovatts themselves are not the "lovable" people they think they are. Their dream of happiness is a selfish one, made at the expense of others. They couldn’t have afforded the house were it not for the financial help of David’s wealthy father, and they couldn’t have raised their children without the help of

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