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<title> How the Setting Reinforces the Theme </title>
In this essay I am going to discuss the importance of the setting in relation to the theme of the novel "The Fifth Child" by Doris Lessing. I will bring up three aspects of setting and by adding quotations from the text that illustrate my points, I will comment on how they reinforce the theme. The different aspects are: geographical, time and psychological setting and the theme is "primitive vs. civilised". 
First I will point out why the scene is laid in England. I think it is because England is a civilised country with a modern, western culture. In a culture like this we often strive to keep people who are not normal - who are not what we are - separate from society. A quote that illustrates this is from page 89. After having listened to Molly who thinks that Ben ought to go to an institution, Angela says: "Sometimes when I'm with you, I understand everything about this country." Looking at the scenery I find the house very interesting, when it comes to reinforcing the theme. In one description of the house I can see how it symbolises the civilised or the English society. On page 19, when Jessica is looking at the house, the reader gets a small hint: "To her it was gloomy and detestable, like England." I may say that the living room symbolises "the normal" or happiness. In there all their relatives gather to enjoy themselves but also to condemn those who are not normal - like Ben. The attic on the other hand, represents the frightening unknown and this is where Ben hides once and Harriet looks for him. This quotation from page 140 may make my point clear: "'Ben', she said softly, though her voice shook. 'Ben', putting into the word her human claim on him and on this wild dangerous attic where he had gone back into a far-away past that did not know human beings." On page 91 there is a quote that I would like to take up in order to show how also the garden can be interpreted as a symbol of the unknown, the frightening. Helen and Luke have just come in after having played in the garden; "...there they were, two slight, elegant little creatures, with flaring red, frost-burned cheeks and eyes full of the excitement of the dark wilderness they had been part of." The contrast between these two phenomenon - the civilised family and the wilderness, the house and the life "outside" - which gets blurred out the further we get into the book, can be noticed in two quotes. The first one is from page 21 when the weather is described as horrible and unfriendly; "But the curtains were drawn, warm thick flowered curtains." The other is from page 54. Ben has just been born and the fearful primitive has started to penetrate the family's life; "outside was a blustering night. The curtains were not drawn." 
Let us now look at the time aspect. The 60s and the 70s were decades of many institutions where they put people who were not normal. This meant that the population outside were not mixed and this caused a great intolerance towards, and a fear against those who were not like everyone else. But at the same time the 60s stands for everything that David and Harriet are not. To them the most important thing is to have a family and that is the exact opposite to, I quote; "..the greedy and selfish 60s." (Page 29.) The contrast between their ideals and the age in which they live, is presented very clearly on the pages 29-30. The environment that surrounds them is getting unpleasant but the family is happier than ever. 
The last aspect of setting that I will take up, is the psychological. Harriet is a fatalist. She believes that you deserve your happiness and at first that is what Harriet and David think they do. A quote from page 28 shows this; "Happiness. A happy family. It was what they had chosen and what they deserved." Her fatalistic beliefs combined with the fact that she gives birth to someone like Ben, result in chaos. Harriet thinks they are being punished and everything they stood for in the past falls apart. One example of that can be found on page 111 when Harriet tells David that she is on the Pill; "For both it was a bleak moment, because everything they had been, they had stood for, in the past, which had made it impossible for her to be on the Pill."
After having done a close reading on this novel, I would finally like to say that I am extremely impressed by how Lessing seems to leave nothing to a chance. When you think about the relevance of the setting in relation to the theme, time and place may perhaps be the most obvious aspects, but that does not mean that they are of most importance. Maybe what characterises a skilful writer is to know how to slip things into the text, which make the reader understand everything about the theme without getting to many pointers, and I think Doris Lessing makes the perfect example of such an author.
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