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<title> "Great Expectations" An essay about "The Fifth Child" by Doris Lessing </title>
I will in this essay discuss certain aspects of the novel "The Fifth Child" by Doris Lessing. What I intend to discuss is the overall theme, how that is related to the setting and of what importance the setting is. To do that I will make a close reading of a few particular pages in the book that conclude and give hints to what the essence of the story really is. 
	What is then the theme of the story? To answer that I am going to refer to the section in the book (pp 28-31) that I have close-read. The section starts (p 28): "Happiness. A happy family. The Lovatts were a happy family. It was what they had chosen and what they deserved". It is hear clearly conveyed to the reader that they are happy, they have chosen "it" (to be happy) and last; they deserve to be happy.
But why does the young couple deserve to be happy? For no specific reason, I would say. But they believe that they deserve happiness merely by expecting it. They try to give "happiness" a perfect breeding-ground, (for example; their enormous house, many children and grand family parties). Apparently the Lovatts have a false illusion that happiness comes naturally if family life is highly valued. They have, as it is said in the text, chosen the "old-fashioned" way, and they believe the choice in itself is enough to be rewarded with happiness. Their "expectation" is an important part of the theme.
	Consequently, when being so full of expectations as David and Harriet are, a misfortune might become disproportionally difficult. The misfortune in this case is, without doubt, Ben. This child is the antithesis to their idea of a happy family. Ben is "... like an angry, hostile little troll." (p.69) and the family is shocked. They had never in their lives imagined that anything could go so wrong. What the reader learns about Ben is that he is completely love-less. Although the Lovatts try to care for him, he shows no sign of being affectionate. One can understand the difficulty for the family to love him, and as a matter of fact, they don't. Now, what I want to question is exactly how horrible Ben really is? What we learn about him are mostly observations made by his mother and one must assume that she is not an objective observer. She merely sees Ben as a terrible mistake, and when comparing him to the other children and her and David's expectations of a happy life, he sure is. But we never know for sure how different Ben really is. The family doctor, for example, seems not to believe that Ben is the horrendous "beast" that Harriet and David do. For this reason I claim that the character "Ben" is an important part of the story only being the antithesis to the rest of the Lovatts family. He is the distracter in their one-tracked minds. Hence, I believe that the theme of the novel includes both expectations and misfortune, but also the importance of being successful, happy, pretty and normal. Well, since Ben has none of those qualities, he is frozen out.
On the other hand, if we assume that Harriet's observations of Ben are true and correspond to reality, Ben's character in itself becomes interesting as a theme of this novel. Since Ben is very hostile even from birth, he makes for most readers a very offensive character. Lessing raises an interesting question when she goes against the assumption that a child is born as a "blank piece of paper", waiting to be formed by its environment. She has created the character "Ben", who is wicked and strange, although he is brought up in the most "perfect" of surroundings. Can a person really be born evil? That is an important question that lingers in the readers mind after having read the novel. 
The setting of the story is very important. As I mentioned above, David and Harriet are trying to give happiness a breeding-ground. A very concrete example of that is their house, in which the entire story (except the beginning) takes place. "...their fortress, their kingdom, in which three precious children were nurtured, and where so many people came to immerse themselves in safety, comfort, kindness." (p.30) It is obvious that the house is the perfect place for Harriet and David to carry out their dreams; to have a big family. Keep in mind though, that to be able to make their dream come true they need the help of David's father and his money, in other words, they have aimed too high and need help. Anyhow, if the "spatial" setting is convenient, the setting in time is not. The story begins in the 1960s when family life wasn't a high priority among young people. "It had been hard preserving their belief in themselves when the spirit of the time, the greedy and selfish sixties, had been so ready to condemn them, to isolate, to diminish their best selves." (p.29) I believe that since it is difficult for them to be recognised by others of their generation, they want to prove that they could create, and maintain, an old-fashioned idyll. Their problem is that they expect only good times and are not at all prepared for difficulties, as when Ben comes into their lives.
In brief, the theme of "The Fifth Child" is partly about expectations and what happens when they fall a part, partly about the panic and shame of being abnormal. Another theme of the story is whether a child is always formed by environment or if it can be totally resistible from influences. The setting of the story is most relevant. The happy upper-middleclass family must have a house suitable for their dreams. On the other hand the time (60s-70s) forces them to isolate themselves in their own idyll, to prove that they can succeed. And that is why their lives end up the way they do, quite unexpectedly.
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