Happy Birthday, 1951
Happy Birthday, 1951
Summary:
The text is about an old man and a young boy, who live in a ruin, in a former warzone. The city is still full of soldiers and tanks. The man got the baby boy about six years ago from a refugee woman. The story begins with the man wanting the boy to choose a birthday. The boy chooses the following day. The old man puts together a cart for the boy, but he also wants the boy to experience a world without war. Next day the boy gets the cart and pretends it’s a tank, because he is fascinated by war, but the old man want the boy to pretend that it is a truck. Later the man takes the boy into the forest for a day to experience the world as it should be. They pass a tank on their way, and the boy is all ecstatic about it, but the man wants the boy to come along into the forest. The man falls asleep, and wakes up late in the afternoon and the boy is missing. The old man is calling the boy and in the end the boy comes out from the tank.
Characterization of the old man:
The old man has lived a long life with war close to him which means that he has learned the consequences of war. These experiences make him too traumatized to let the boy be a boy. The old man wants the boy to learn the seriousness of war and that it is not just a game. He is trying to teach this to the boy by taking him into the forest where there is peaceful and no signs of war. The forest is the one place where the man really feels serenity. The man wants the boy to learn the value of life and to take a look at what war and soldiers really does to the nature, but the boy does cannot see the beauty of the nature like the man can. The man’s perspective on life is one way and the boy’s the complete opposite way. The man just wants the boy to grow up to be an idyllic citizen with peace on his mind and not a soldier who kills his way through the world.
Characterization of the boy:
The entire life of the boy has been during war, so the boy does not know anything else. The boy
Summary:
The text is about an old man and a young boy, who live in a ruin, in a former warzone. The city is still full of soldiers and tanks. The man got the baby boy about six years ago from a refugee woman. The story begins with the man wanting the boy to choose a birthday. The boy chooses the following day. The old man puts together a cart for the boy, but he also wants the boy to experience a world without war. Next day the boy gets the cart and pretends it’s a tank, because he is fascinated by war, but the old man want the boy to pretend that it is a truck. Later the man takes the boy into the forest for a day to experience the world as it should be. They pass a tank on their way, and the boy is all ecstatic about it, but the man wants the boy to come along into the forest. The man falls asleep, and wakes up late in the afternoon and the boy is missing. The old man is calling the boy and in the end the boy comes out from the tank.
Characterization of the old man:
The old man has lived a long life with war close to him which means that he has learned the consequences of war. These experiences make him too traumatized to let the boy be a boy. The old man wants the boy to learn the seriousness of war and that it is not just a game. He is trying to teach this to the boy by taking him into the forest where there is peaceful and no signs of war. The forest is the one place where the man really feels serenity. The man wants the boy to learn the value of life and to take a look at what war and soldiers really does to the nature, but the boy does cannot see the beauty of the nature like the man can. The man’s perspective on life is one way and the boy’s the complete opposite way. The man just wants the boy to grow up to be an idyllic citizen with peace on his mind and not a soldier who kills his way through the world.
Characterization of the boy:
The entire life of the boy has been during war, so the boy does not know anything else. The boy