<doc.id=1095.a4>
<title> One big happy family </title>
I am going to describe what I see as the main theme in Doris Lessing's, The fifth child. David and Harriet's dream is having a large and happy family. They buy a big house, which becomes the meeting point for their family and friends. But they find out that happiness does not last forever. 
When Harriet and David met for the first time, they both knew that they were destined to be with each other. They just couldn't stop talking. Almost as if there was no tomorrow. They almost immediately moved in together in David's apartment. They soon started to look for a bigger home. They quickly found the house where they could start their life together. The house plays an essential part of the story. This is where all the good and bad things happens. It is a three-storeyed Victorian house in an overgrown garden. Perfect to raise a lot of kids in. The house is the core of the story. Whatever happens they always have the house. 
	They search for happiness. They have always talked about having a lot of children. Eventough Harriet's pregnancies gets harder and harder, she doesn't hesitate to go trough another tough pregnancy. David and Harriet seem to think that happiness will increase with the number of children they get. They have big get-togethers in the house. Every Christmas and every Easter their friends and relatives meet in the house, and it's just like James says on page 70, "It is like being in the middle of some bloody great fruit pudding, this house". Every body enjoys spending time in the house together with their relatives. 
	But when Harriet's fifth pregnancy begins to get really tough, her social manner changes. She can no longer manage to serve all the guests. At the same time, her mother is no longer able to give her as much help as she used to. Their happiness is slowly disappearing. When Ben is born, the get-togethers at Christmas and Easter are never the same, even if Ben is locked inside his room most of the time. For the following get-together's, most of the guest's comes up with lame excuses for not coming to their house. It is obvious that they didn't feel confortable when they last visited the house. 
	The family itself get's more and more miserable. They have lost all happiness that they had built up with their four first children. Paul, the fourth child, used to be so happy and always smiling, but now he is afraid of his younger brother. Suddenly, a little boy, their own son, has destroyed their happiness. The house has become a prison for one of their own children. Harriet's idyll of a big happy family is shattered. She and David used to talk about having six children, but there is never any talk about having another child now. The family member's drift further and further apart. It is clear what is standing in the way of their happiness. David set's an ultimatum to Harriet on page 90; "It's either him or us". It is clear that they are not letting their happiness slip away that easy. If it takes getting rid of a family member, then that's what they'll do. 
	When Ben is at the institution, the family becomes happy again. There is no Ben to interfere with their "normal" family life. The Easter holidays are coming up and Harriet hears Helen saying, "It will be all right now that Ben isn't here" (page 93). It is clear that Ben is the one who is "destroying" the family. Even the children understand that. But blood is thicker than water so Harriet sacrafies her families' happiness and takes Ben home. 
In the end of the book, Harriet sits at the table and reflects over her life that she hoped would be happy. In the table she can see all the good years. All the great get-together's with their big family. As it is said on page 154 "the smoothings and caressings of twenty years, had given the wide board a gleaming silken surface, so smooth fingers skated over it". She is worn out, trying to make her family happy. 
 
	 Harriet thinks that happiness can be achieved with a big family. When suddenly an obstacle appears, neither she nor David knows what to do. Their idyllic house with feast's and gatherings becomes a house of bad feelings. They no longer connect it with happiness, but with hatred.
</doc>