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<title> A Happy family? Doris Lessing: The Fifth Child </title>
	What happens to the happy family when something goes wrong? Something comes along that neither Harriet or David had expected. Something they did not deserve. Others deserved this, like Harriet's sister Sarah for instance. "Harriet said to David, privately, that she did not believe it was bad luck: Sarah and William's unhappiness, their quarreling, had probably attracted the mongol child" (31).
	Harriet and David met at a party. They are both outsiders, do not feel that they fit in to the rest of the world. They are very traditional, not at all like others who has different relationships and look at themselves as "free" individuals. Harriet and David feel free. They feel they are the ones who are right in the society and almost looks down at other people. From the beginning they know they deserve happiness. They know what they want and what they should expect from life. They have a nice big house, made for a big family. They have four beautiful, intelligent children. They do things together, and depend on their parents for babysitting and economic support. On the outside everything is perfect. They also feel everything is perfect. They do not care about the world outside there home. They read the papers and watch the news on TV. "At least they ought to know what went on outside their fortress, their kingdom, in which three precious children were nurtured, and where so many people came to immerse themselves in safety, comfort, kindness" (30). Everyone is welcome to their grate gatherings. Their parties go on for weeks, costing a fortune. But who cares? David's parents take care of the bills.
	Then something comes along which brakes the image of the happy family. Now Harriet and David are not as envied as they were before. Ben has come into their lives. Ben destroyed everything from the beginning. When Harriet was expecting him she started to fear what she had in her stomach. Something was not right. She felt him kicking hard from the inside and almost thought she was carrying an alien. This happens in the early 70s. Then doctors ordered medication to expecting mothers much more than they do now. They did not know how dangerous it could be, and of course Harriet with her difficult pregnancy ate it. "If a dose of some sedative kept the enemy - so she now thought of this savage thing inside of her - quiet for an hour..." (51). It shows how Harriet feels about Ben even that early. Later she looks at him as a "little troll or a hobgoblin" (76). Harriet fears him all the time. Ben is not to be trusted. He kills a dog and a cat, and she is afraid to leave him alone with the other children. This means that she has to watch him all day and lock him in at night. 
	Harriet feels like a criminal. She feels she did something bad to the rest of the world just by having given birth to Ben. She feels that everyone are looking at her and thinking of her as a bad person, since she is not able to take care of her family. The rest of the family also blames her for bringing Ben in to the family.
	The whole family feels fear around Ben. When Ben goes away to the institution they become the happy family, but Harriet of course can not live with this. The rest of the family feels betrayed by her when she brings Ben home again. She is not able to love him, but she can not just let him die. The fear is back in the house.
	The happy family is no longer a real family. The children, all attending different boarding schools, only come home when they feel they have to. Otherwise they visit their grandparents. Harriet and David still lives in the big house, but are thinking of selling it, since Ben and his criminal friends stay there all the time. They are just waiting for Ben to leave and never come back again.				I feel that the main theme in the book is the happy family, and the importance to keep a happy facade towards the rest of the world. Also fear and guilt are big issues, especially for Harriet. David is trying to ignore the problem, Ben. For him and the other children, the betrayal is the main issue. No one of them really forgives Harriet, which of course contributes to the guilt that she already feels. Since the institutions of that time was horrible there is nothing else she could have done, though. Here it seems okay to put your child away and to let him/her die if he/she is not normal. That is nothing you would do these days. Harriet knows that she have ruined her family in different ways. The youngest child, Paul did lose his mother early to Ben. The other children at least had a mother for a longer time, and did not suffer as much. David feels that he did lose his wife in a way, in the same time, as he feels guilty to the other children because Harriet did spend so much time with Ben. Harriet and David feel it is impossible to live their lives in a normal way, but it will be possible soon. They feel certain and relieved that Ben soon will leave them for good. But will they ever become that happy family again?	
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