English Literature

The poem starts off with a direct message, introducing the readers to the situation, "your father's gone, my bald headmaster said," Although a direct sentence, the poet uses euphemism to imply that the headmaster did not want to be harsh on the boy and was possibly upset himself. The boy admits to crying upon hearing the news, however he adds that he wasn't crying because he was upset but because he was quite happy that his father died. This is because he believes that he won't be bullied for a while since people will feel sorry for his loss, "Could bind the bully's fist for a week or two," after realizing what he is thinking, the boy cries because he is ashamed of himself for wanting to use his father's death to gain something out of it. However, he then cries for relief because he knows that he is actually going to gain from it.

The second stanza begins with "I was a month past ten," this highlights the young boy's innocence at such a young age. The boy's age makes us feel sorry for him because not only has he lost his father at such an early age, but he has also lost his childhood and innocence as seen when he thinks about benefiting from his father's death. This is all a cause of the bullying that the boy has faced, and the fact that he is in a boarding school and probably had no one to turn to. The boy remembers pretending to be upset in assembly so that the others would notice. He compares school to a prison, further implying how unhappy he is at school. He says that the goldfish were indifferent about his feelings, and didn't really care for him. However, the students were all looking at him. Due to this, the boy felt proud because he would actually manage to avoid being bullied for a few weeks.