Белова Екатерина Игоревна
Донецкий государственный университет, факультет иностранных языков, 45.03.01 Филология, Зарубежная филология (английский язык и литература), 3 курс
What is the significance of childhood and family for the formation of a child's personality? Is it important to support loved ones at crucial moments of life? What is the love for a loved one? These issues are touched upon by the short but touching story of the American writer Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards called ‘Little Benjamin’, thus forming the main ideas of the work.
“Little Benjamin” is a story about a baby who, by the will of Christ, got on the doorstep of the Golden family after the death of his mother, and was accepted into their loving family, home and their hearts.
The author uses the image of the baby to explore the issue of sympathy and love of the foster family, emphasizing that even strangers can become your family if their sensitive heart is filled with love, mercy and faith in the Almighty. This can be traced in the lines: ‘We have done all that we undertook to do for him, that night we took him in, and more. We have brought him – I should say your mother brought him – through his sickly days; we 'most lost him, you remember, when he was two years old, with the croup – and he is now a healthy, hearty child, and will likely make a strong man. He has been well treated, well fed and clothed, maybe better than he would have been by his own parents if so't had been’.
Revealing the issue of childhood and the loss of relatives, the author shows how important it is for a child to have care, support and guidance in the process of growth and development. In the text, this can be traced in the lines: ‘He is turning out wild and mischievous, though he has a good heart, none better…’. Even when, having matured, Benny begins to test the patience of others with his behavior, the family refuses to even think about getting rid of the fidget by sending him to a special institution for orphans: ‘Oh, father, we couldn't let him go!’, ‘Needs a little governing, that's all…no harm in him, not a mite’, ‘Good enough little kid, only mischievous’.
Compositionally, the work consists of an introduction (the author shows the place of events – the house of the Golden family and its family members who found the baby on the doorstep of their house), the exposition (contradictions about the adoption of the child into the family), the development of action (the successful resolution of the dispute and the choice of a name for a new family member), a climax (the commotion caused by naughtiness of grown-up Benny), a denouement and happy ending (reconciliation with difficulties and awareness of love for an adopted child who has become a native).
The setting and background of the story is the Golden family house, to which the author gives the following description: ‘Nothing remarkable in the way of setting; the room, with its stuffed chairs, its tidies, and cabinet organ, was only unlike other such rooms from the fact that Mother Golden habitually sat in it’.
The time in the work is linear, since it describes the sequence of events from beginning to end, as in real life; meanwhile it is plastic, since the author skips the gap of ten years between the events described in the first and second parts. During this missed interval, Benjamin matures and changes significantly, his brothers and sisters also get older and find directions in life, his father grows old, and his mother passes away.
However, despite the gap in the narrative and the changes that have occurred during this period, one thing remains unchanged – sincere love for one's neighbour. Even after the death of Golden's sacrificial and heartfelt mother, who obviously was an example of sincere compassion and sensitivity, a support for all family members, the father must take on this responsibility and become an example of patience and kindness. That is why, when his adult children come to him to complain about the little, mischievous Benny, Golden's father retains strong patience, expressing understanding and supporting each of his children. At this moment, he often looks at the portrait of his wife, Mother Golden, standing on his desk: ‘He looked at a portrait that stood on his desk, a framed photograph of Mother Golden’, ‘Any harm done, Joseph?' asked Father Golden, glancing at the portrait on his desk’, ‘Glancing once more at the portrait of Mother Golden, he turned and faced his children with grave looks'. He seems to be looking for help and advice in looking at a dear, beloved person, whose support he lacks at that moment.
The atmosphere of the narration is pleasant, homely, calm, not causing tension or discomfort. This palette of feelings is created due to various images and details that fill the work and create a background, affecting emotions and perception. For example, the feeling of a friendly family environment can be traced in the following lines: ‘It was a pretty picture: the rosy, dimpled creature, the yellow floss ruffled all over his head, his absurd little mouth open in a beaming smile; beaming above him, Mother Golden's placid face in its frame of silver hair; fronting them, Father Golden in his big leather chair, solid, comfortable, benevolent; and the five children, their honest, sober faces lighted up with unusual excitement’, ‘A pleasant, homelike picture’.
The time and social environment were not disclosed by the author for the completeness of the description of the plot, therefore, we can only guess and think out these elements.
Reading the story, we can conclude that the narrative belongs to the genre of a short story. The work depicts objective reality: everyday life, events and characters. The author uses an epic prose intermediate form between a short story and an essay, which is characterized by a rapid, linear, compressed composition that opens an exit and is aimed at a positive ending.
Let's turn to the system of characters. The main character or the protagonist of the story is the boy Benjamin, an orphan, left on the doorstep of the Golden family at the age of six months and changed their entire further life. The boy's father was a waif, and his own mother died. Benjamin is also a dynamic and round character in the narrative, initially changing the life of the family with his appearance and causing surprise among readers, and then with his tricks in the second part of the work. A plot is tied around him and his appearance in the family and a work is built. He evokes complex and contradictory feelings among his relatives, arousing the interest of readers.
The boy's name was chosen by his adoptive mother, Mother Golden, immediately after the appearance of the child in the family. Her choice was based on the tradition of calling all her children by Bible names, which she really liked: “‘I do love a Bible name!’ said Mother Golden, pensively”. According to her, ‘It gives a child a good start, and makes him think when he hears himself named, or ought so to do’. Opening the first page of the Bible, they read about little Benjamin, the ruler, so they chose this name: ‘Benjamin shall be this child's name. Little Benjamin: the Lord bless and keep him!’.
The Bible name Benjamin has Hebrew roots, translates as ‘lucky man’, ‘happy man’, which has a connection with the boy's getting into a kind and loving family.
The author gives the following description of the main character's appearance: ‘It's a boy, and a beauty!’, ‘And he so good, and laughing like a sunflower!’, ‘About six months old I call him…’, ‘the rosy, dimpled creature, the yellow floss ruffled all over his head, his absurd little mouth open in a beaming smile’, Curly, rosy, dirty, ragged, laughing, panting, little Benjamin’, as well as the clothes of the child in which he got to them: ‘Cambric slip, fine enough, but not so terrible fine’.
We can talk about the behavior and actions of the main character only in the second part of the story, when Benjamin grows from a baby into a child. From a cute, rosy-cheeked and smiling little boy, Benjamin turns into a restless, spoiled and self-willed child. About his actions and, in general, about the character of Benjamin we can conclude from the lines: ‘he has rubbed soot on all the door-handles, and the whole house is black with it’, ‘he has tied Rover and the cat together by their tails, and they are rushing all about the garden almost crazy’, ‘He breaks everything he lays hands on’.
This behavior is very disturbing to the rest of the household, who simply cannot cope with it and influence it: ‘But he is so naughty, father!’ ‘He's getting to be a perfect nuisance and he won't keep his hands off anything’. The family loves the boy, he becomes a relative for them, but they understand that they have spoiled him very much: ‘I do love the child so, I'm not strict enough’.
In the last scene of the piece, the whole family gathers, shocked by Benjamin's behavior, to discuss it with his father. They talk about what changes have happened to the boy and claim that none of them behaved in this way: ‘he is so different from the other boys’, ‘Joe never used to play such tricks when he was little’, ‘We never behaved in this kind of way!’ said the brothers’. But after talking to his father, everyone understands that despite the mischievous nature, they really love their younger brother the way he is: ‘He's so different from the rest of us but mother loved him, and down at the bottom we all do'.
Benjamin cannot be called a villain in the work, because he is just a child, and his tricks are only the consequences of the April Fool's prank, which adults took seriously and reacted negatively.
Secondary characters of the work can be considered all the other members of the Golden family: Mother Golden, father Golden and their five children: Ruth, Mary, Lemuel, Joe and Adam. These same characters are flat and static, without undergoing any significant changes or growth in the course of the narrative, except for their changing age in the second chapter. They move the story forward by interacting with the main character and allowing readers to observe the changes as the story progresses. They all have different characters: boys are more reserved, and girls, on the contrary, show their emotions more vividly. The father of the family is serious and wise, thanks to his wisdom in the final scene the children come to the truth and rethink their attitude towards Benjamin, feel responsible for the future of their family. Mother Golden is a very kind, sympathetic and merciful woman who without hesitation decides to shelter an orphan while others still doubt it.
Such an exalted image of the family, the upbringing of children and the relationship between adults and children, between older and younger, causes very tender, sincere feelings, kindness in the soul. In this family, the opinion of children in a difficult choice situation is as important as the opinion of adults:
“‘Children, what do you say?’ asked Father Golden. ‘You're old enough to have your opinion, even the youngest of you’”. And even after growing up, children come to their old father to ask him for advice, and he listens carefully to each of them, promising to help, which allows us to talk about close relationships in the family, parental love, mutual understanding and support.
The main conflict appearing in the work is a household conflict based on the disharmony of family relations and discord between members of the Golden family.
The conflict occurs at the end of the story, and acts as a minor domestic trouble, contradictions against the background of Benjamin's bad behavior, who committed a lot of tricks, making a mess and distracting everyone else from work.
The conflict arises after all the adult children gather at their father's house and complain about Benjamin's misconducts, expressing their indignation, discontent and desire for the father to deal with it: “Something must be done about that boy, father!”, “He is the torment of the whole family”, “No one can live a day in peace!”, “No dumb creature's life is safe!”. The eldest daughter Mary loved this child very much, so she tried to stand up for him: “‘You were all little once, boys!’ said Mary”, however, the boys tried to object to this, stating that they had never behaved in this way. So that the conflict and dispute did not move to a new level and seeing that tempers were growing frayed, the father calmed the children in a strict tone and asked them to listen to him.
The conflict ended with the fact that the father gave his adult children a choice: to leave the child in the family or let go. When the ardor of the children quiet down, they realized that they considered Benjamin a native member of the family and could not let him go, because he was dear to their dead mother, as well as to themselves. The previous harmony and love for each other returned to the family.
The tone of the work “Little Benjamin” is changeable. At the beginning of the work, it is positive, expressing surprise, joy and delight after the unexpected discovery of an orphan baby on the doorstep of the house. This can be traced through emotionally-colored expressions: “Adam came back with a white, scared face”, “‘My heart!’ said Mother Golden”, as well as words such as: “cheerfully”, “anxiously”, “cried”, “exclaimed”, “in a sudden movement of delight”, which complement the enthusiastic picture, imbuing it with joyful, positive emotions.
In the second part of the work, the tone takes on a sad, disturbing shade. Sadness stands out against the background of the death of Mother Golden, and is also felt from the words of Father Golden about his imminent demise: “Your mother has entered into the rest that is reserved for the people of God, and I am looking forward in the hope that, not through any merit of mine, but the merciful grace of God, I may soon be called to join her”.
Anxiety grows when there is a conflict after Benjamin's tricks on the occasion of the April Fool's Day, and when father Golden offers his children a serious choice about leaving the boy in the family. These emotions are caused by the phrase: “One of two things: either this boy is to be sent away to some institution, to take his place among other orphans and foundlings, or – he must be one of you for now and always”, after which the choice remains with the older children.
However, at the end of the work, the tone again acquires a positive coloring, when the older children speak fondly about little Benny and realize the full power of love and affection for him. Tender and affectionate feelings are caused by the last scene, where Benny reports that he fixed everything, what he did, as well as the scene with the kite, which all the relatives agree to launch with Benjamin, forgiving and forgetting everything they were so angry and indignant about after the prank.
The story “Little Benjamin” is written in the third person singular and plural. The narrator is not identical to the personality of the author, is not a participant of the events of the work and the object of the image. He describes the changes taking place in the Golden family over time, using such a type of speech as narration, informing readers about the events taking place. The object of the narrative is the life of the Golden family after the appearance of an orphan baby in their family.
Let's turn to the symbolism of the night, as the time of day at which Benjamin was found on the doorstep of Golden's house: “... that night we took him in”. It is no coincidence that the author chose this time of day, because night in literature is a symbol of mystery and suspense, it is at night that something unexpected can happen, this is the time of renewal and replenishment. The Golden family was taken by surprise by the discovery of a baby near their house, they were sure that someone had made a mistake by leaving the baby with them. It was a big mystery to them who this baby was, whose he was and where he came from. Thus, the night presented the family with a ‘surprise’ that changed their whole life.
By itself, the symbol of a child means the symbol of an immature, spiritually frustrated person. Specifically in this work, the child acts as a psychological ‘salvation’ of adults, symbolizing the innocence and purity of childhood. For both adults and his siblings, Benjamin becomes an outlet at a younger age. And as an adult, Benjamin acts as a deliverer of adults from loneliness, boredom and the dullness of their adult world: “the child is the life of the house. We are all so humdrum and mopy, I don't know what we should do without Benny to keep us moving”. The boy opens their eyes to those things that they themselves do not see. It brings adults back to the world of their childhood, which they forgot about, reminds them that a child should never disappear in the soul of an adult.
It is also no coincidence that the baby appears in a large basket: “A long basket, with something white inside; and – it's crying!”, because the basket is a symbol of rebirth or salvation from death, an analogy of a protective maternal body. The baby was discovered by Mother Golden and her eldest son by plaintive, long cries, which later turned out to be the result of teething and stomach problems. Thus, the foster family not only sheltered the baby, but also saved him from certain death.
Mother Golden symbolizes protection and love. Her presence and caring for Benjamin and other children may indicate the importance of family and support in a person's life.
Since the text belongs to fiction, an abundance of various expressive means and stylistic devices can be found in it.
In the work we can find many epithets describing the emotions and states of the characters, for example: scared face; plaintive cry; poor mother; eager eyes; offhand tone; kind eyes; placid face; honest, sober faces; mild woman; poor creatures; Poor old Rover; quiet-looking men; grave, ‘set’ faces; serious young faces; a healthy, hearty child; a strong man; a lively whistle.
We can also find epithets describing the main character – little Benjamin, for example: little creature; little hands; little voice; a pretty child; a little precious man; rosy, dimpled creature; the yellow floss; absurd little mouth; a winning gurgle; a good boy; a perfect nuisance; little Benjamin; poor little Ben; a healthy, hearty child; a good heart; little kid; the lovingest little soul; curly, rosy, dirty, ragged, laughing, panting, little Benjamin, which help to create his distinctive personality and add depth to his image.
Other epithets found in the work: a long basket; a great responsibility; homelike picture; unusual excitement; a pretty picture; a good start.
In the text of the story, we can find comparisons, for example: to eat like a Major; as good as one; to give something like a sigh of relief. And also similes: hands like pink shells; to talk like a buzz-saw; to laugh like a sunflower; his face was bright as his name.
In addition, the work is filled with metaphors that expressively describe people and situations, for example: a movement of delight; the effect of increased fluffiness; the look of mild deprecation; a glance of grave inquiry; a sigh of relief; a frame of silver hair; a face of tragedy; the torment of the whole family; the head of the house; the grace of God; share of the property; the life of the house.
One can also distinguish the periphrases ‘the rest that is reserved for the people of God’, implying the word ‘heaven’; ‘I may soon be called to join her’ means ‘I will die soon’; ‘the grave where her young heart had laid its treasure’ – ‘lost youth’, giving the narrative more expressiveness.
There are several hyperboles in the text, for example: “he has rubbed soot on all the door-handles, and the whole house is black with it”; “No dumb creature's life is safe!”; “He breaks everything he lays hands on”, used by the author in order to cause an emotional reaction in the reader.
The author uses metonymy to give an indirect characterization of some phenomena, for example: “at them homes and nurseries, they mean well, but the most of them's young” (‘them’ means employees of these institutions: nannies, educators and etc.).
The antithesis in the work is the contrasted phrases of adult children at the end of the second part, when they come to complain to their father about Benjamin. At the beginning of the dispute, each of them considers the child bad, calls his behavior unworthy, rude and speaks negatively about him, but after the father's words about the boy's hard fate, everyone feels sorry for him, they remember all the good things that the boy brought with him to their family, so they change their minds and speak of Benjamin with tenderness and love. For example, this can be seen in the following lines: “‘I guess if Benny went, I'd go after him pretty quick!’ said Joseph, who had been loudest in his complaint against the child”.
A large number of interjections, such as “My heart!”, which is often repeated by Mother Golden; “Oh”, which serves to express surprise; “Well”, which creates doubt and delays time, and “Yes”, which expresses agreement, humility and approval, makes speech vivid and expressive, helps to convey feelings and the mental states of the heroes.
Summing up, we emphasize once again what importance the family plays in the life of a small child, what importance the support of relatives plays and what is the love of one's neighbour. First of all, the family plays an irreplaceable role in the child's life, providing him with emotional support, patterns of behavior and values, security and the opportunity to develop as a person. It is the basis on which the child builds his life and forms his future personality. In addition, it can be concluded that not only blood relatives, but also foster parents can become loving people. Support plays a key role in the upbringing of children, the fundamental principles of family relationships are based on mutual understanding, love and support. Love for one's neighbour consists in accepting him or her as a value, in humility with all shortcomings, empathy, patience and selfless care.
The work “Little Benjamin” teaches us many important things. First, it shows that the family is the foundation of our life and that we must cherish and strengthen our family ties. Secondly, it teaches us that the love and support of loved ones can help us overcome any difficulties and achieve success. Thirdly, the work reminds us that everyone has the right to happiness and that the family should be a place where we can find comfort and support. Finally, the work teaches us to appreciate and respect each other, to be tolerant and kind, and to always keep up our family values and traditions.
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