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<title> THE FIFTH CHILD A few bricks of the story </title>
Interpreting novels is a difficult task; to do it objectively is quite impossible. Every reflection you make is coloured by your own experiences, ideas etc. In this essay you will find what I see as the major theme of the novel the fifth child and also how I see the author's use of setting to promote this theme. It will not be a complete analysis of the novel and many important events and characters have been excluded. This is due to limited length of the essay. 
In this novel I have found several possible themes. But I have restricted myself to one that I feel is most important. It is the difficulty of preserving your own ideas or values in the face of change. David and Harriet experience change in many ways. In society, in their relationship, in their children etc. Lessing has, in my view, used the setting in a brilliant way to describe the persistence and determination that the main characters possess. Society disapproves of their lifestyle but their house is an outpost, a fortress and a kingdom, protecting them. I will now show how I have interpreted Lessing's use of setting to promote the theme of the novel.
We are, as readers, told in the first pages that David and Harriet are not in line with modern society. The sixties being the age of change in many fields in society; women having careers and enjoying sexual freedom. She takes it for granted that just the word sixties will guide the readers thoughts to promiscuousness and in doing so show that David and Harriet are not like that. 
The sixties are further described in (p.29) "...the spirit of the times, the greed"

I will now narrow my perspective from the society and focus on a more tangible object, the house. One of the most important factors concerning setting is, as I see it, the house. David an architect and Harriet a graphic designer meet at party held by a Housebuilding company. They want a Victorian home and family; a big house and many children. The House they buy is built in Victorian style with three floors, an attic and many rooms. It is a house that allows and maybe demands many children and visitors. It is the embodiment of many ideas: the symbol of character, comfort and of the soul. Lessing writes "...outside, the autumn was establishing itself in flying leaves that sometimes hit the windowpanes with small thuds and bangs, and in the sound of a rising wind. But the curtains were drawn, warm thick flowered curtains" (p.21). 
David and Harriet do not want any part of the modern age, so they create a world of their own. The house is referred to as their kingdom or fortress. In the middle of the house is the bedroom: "...the heart of their kingdom.". 
In this heart the children are conceived and born. The bedroom takes even greater significance when the fifth child is to be born. "For the first time, Harriet had insisted on a hospital, surprising everyone" (p.59). This is one of signs that say that this child is going to be different. Their house is also the gathering point of all their relatives. In spite of the fact that everybody sees David's and Harriet's lifestyle as strange they do not avoid it. For Christmas and Easter the house is filled to overflowing. Everyone may enjoy the enormous hospitality and so David's and Harriet's dream of the big comforting home is fulfilled. The result is, however, not happiness but exhaustion and their reality changes their life and dreams turn into nightmares. 
In conclusion I find that the setting of the novel is very important to the theme. Lessing uses the setting to enlarge the events taking place and to make them more significant. She uses society to separate David and Harriet from the modern age. Society also acts as a premonition of future events. The house they live in has a similar function. It is the symbol of their desire to create a world of their own, their desire for happiness the old-fashioned way. The house is a family symbol and symbol of the soul; when the fifth child is born outside its walls it is a premonition of things to come.
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