<doc.id=1008.a4>
<title> The destruction of a perfect family life </title>
The setting of a story is sometimes very important for the clarification of the theme or the ideology etc. In other cases, though, it may be of no interest if the story takes place in Africa or on The North Pole, for example when the focus is on people's relationships or other things that are regardless of time and space. In this essay I will discuss what I consider to be the main theme of Lessing's The Fifth Child and in what way the setting of the story contributes to the presentation of that theme. 
	I feel that the theme of this novel is that even if we think that we can protect ourselves from the cruelty of the outer world, in this case by creating a big and happy family, we can never control what is going to happen. In the novel, Harriet and David totally devote themselves to creating a big and idyllic family although the people surrounding them tell them that they are making a mistake. The reason for them being seen as odd is the spirit of the time, the 1960s. Almost everybody advocate free sex without commitments but when Harriet meets David, at the age of twenty-four, she is still a virgin. Naturally she is often being teased about it: "A virgin now", her girlfriends might shriek; "Are you crazy?" The thing that makes David fall in love with Harriet is, according to him, "that she knew where happiness lay and how to keep it." His expectations will prove to be utterly wrong.	
However, the beginning their life together is very happy and relatively unproblematic and their only problem, which seems extremely minor if you have in mind what is going to happen later, is David's commuting to London. "This was going to be the worst of it for everyone." The word happiness is common in the first part of the book and by writing sequences like: "Happiness. A happy family. The Lovatts were a happy family," Lessing creates the feeling that nothing can ever go wrong for this family. Furthermore they have a huge house, which is the meeting-place for relatives and friends during the Christmas- and Easter holidays and at almost every gathering David and Harriet have a new, wonderful baby for everybody to admire. Money is hardly a problem either, since David's wealthy father supplies them with money when needed. 
The setting is naturally of importance to the theme in this novel, since the setting; the wealthy middle class, the big house and the happy atmosphere in the house, gives the reader a feeling of total security. However, suddenly something happens that shatters the idyll and at this point you really begin to understand the theme. When Harriet is carrying her fifth child, we as readers know, from the title, that this child is not going to be like the previous four. None of her pregnancies has been easy, but since this one is incomparably the most difficult one Harriet also feels that this baby is not going to be like the others. 
When Ben is finally born her suspicions prove to be true. There is something abnormal and scary about him. He does not show affection of any kind and he even seems evil. Eventually he has to be locked in and he becomes more and more hostile towards everyone. Furthermore, relatives start turning down invitations for the Christmas and Easter gatherings, which used to be very popular. Consequently, the fifth child changes the atmosphere of the house and of the whole story, since what used to be a secure place becomes more or less terrifying. This new situation does not match with the setting, the happy middle class family in the big, comfortable house, and that is probably what makes the atmosphere even more unpleasant. 
Another thing that I think occurs in this story, as a part of the theme, is naivety. The reason for that is that when Harriet's sister had a child with Down's syndrome Harriet said that "she didn't believe it was bad luck: Sarah and William's unhappiness...had probably attracted mongol child." This proves that she believed it possible to prevent outer catastrophes by being happy, which, of course, is absolutely ridiculous and hopefully she realises that when they, the perfectly happy family, get a child that you would, in fact, happily exchange for one with Down's syndrome. 
In conclusion, I would like to say that this story teaches us, above all, that we cannot foresee what is going to happen in life and in most cases there is nothing we can do about it. Some people may call it destiny while other calls it God's will. In this particular case the setting of the story helps delivering this message because of the contrast between the setting and the terrifying thing happening to the family. The setting is important from another point of view as well: the spirit of the 1960s and 1970s that surrounds David and Harriet makes it even more important for them to prove that they can handle the creation of a happy family. This fear of failure, which is not marked but still obvious, makes the situation even worse when the family is falling apart because of the fifth child.
</doc>