Elizabeth Bowen Innocence

There comes a point in everyone’s lives where they lose their childhood innocence. This can happen over the course of many years or in as short as a few hours. In Elizabeth Bowen’s short story “A Day in the Dark”, Barbie has her innocence ripped away from her in a single afternoon. Filled with dread after her conversation with Miss Banerry, Barbie realizes that she can’t retreat back into the safety of her childhood beliefs after experiencing the complexities of the adult world.
Bowen is extremely attentive with her word choices, carefully lacing her story with symbolism. Her tactful choices begin with the title of the story “A Day in the Dark”. “The title itself, playing on the many overtones of the word "dark" as well as on the expression "to be in the dark", gives some forewarning of the ambiguities to come” (Christensen). Darkness is often associated with the unknown, doubt, fear, loneliness, hopelessness, and countless other negative feeling words. Barbie begins her journey her journey to Miss Banerry’s house stating that she feels a sense of “dread” and she leave later that afternoon questioning the purity of her relationship with her uncle. Being in the dark means you don’t know about something that other people know about. In Barbie’s case, she is in the dark regarding the adult world and the corruption that comes with it.
(Christensen)