This is an analysis of the short story "The happiest days of your life". The short story is written by Penelope Lively, who was sent away from her home to a boarding school in the rainy England.
The short story is with an omniscient narrator, and takes place in the southern England - or more preciously in a area called Sussex. The story stretches over a day while a boy named Charles and his parents is going to visit an boarding school. The Sussex area is a part of the upper class, which indicates that the environment is rich. The boarding school (St. Edwards's Preparatory School) is very big and luxurious. That can also be seen in the fact that the school is a big mansion with a swimming pool. It's very formal inside the school, and the parents meets the maid who is all done up - which the mom approaches a lot (page 56, line 15). The school is very expensive, which tells that it's not middle class area. In the end of the story the parents mentions that the school is a bit pricey, which indicates that they aren't entirely upper class, but more upper middle class. Something that underlines, that they are upper middle class is that they uses a very formal language. There is no slang, and they are very correct in what they say and with their grammar. In page 56 they are talking about cricket, which is very upper class. They uses direct speech, but most of time the short story are in is past tense.
Charles is the main character in the short story, and from the text I would say that he is an only child, since the parents want to send him to a expensive boarding school. Charles parents are both very self-centured. They think they care about Charles, and his feelings but without noticing they don't see that Charles is not very happy or positive about the boarding school.
Charles parents are very positive about the boarding school. The parents have a conversation, where Charles father says "Wilcox says quite a few