Analysis of The Stone Boy by Gina Berriault - Book Report/Review Example

Critical Essay on Gina Berriault’s “The Stone Boy” Gina Berriault’s short story, “The Stone Boy” was first published in 1957 and was made into a movie in 1984, which received substantial critical acclaim. The story remains a unique depiction of the complex psychological realm of human mind, as expressed through the traumatic experiences of the nine year old boy Arnold. Set in a small family farm where people lead a sequestered life in stark contrast to the vast, enchanting landscape that surrounds them, the story is full of surprises and strange human reactions. Arnold is presented in the beginning as a young boy who worships from a close distance the masculine charm of his fifteen year old brother Eugene. The brotherly affection between the two is emphatically portrayed in the beginning. The childish innocence of Arnold is contrasted with Eugene’s coming of age mannerisms and the self-assertion that he is the first among the children of the family, before Nora the second child, and then Arnold. However, Arnold remains Eugene’s silent admirer and his identity formation at this phase is mostly influenced by Eugene. He “never tired of watching Eugie offer silent praise unto himself. He wondered, as he sat enthralled, if when he got to be Eugies age he would still be undersized and his hair still straight”. Arnold has a .22-caliber rifle, which uses for shooting ducks in the field. Both Arnold and Eugene are described as going out to the fields, to pick the peas. As they try to slip through a fence and the gun gets caught in the fence wire, and it fires accidentally. Eugene gets shot and killed. The major shift in the story takes place from this moment. After finding out that Eugene is dead, Arnold goes on to pick his share of peas before going back home and informing his family of the incident. The rest of the story deals with the way his family, neighbors, and the police perceive this strange act by him, and how the inner, stifled realm of Arnold’s self responds to this. The sheriff confirms after the interrogation that it was by accident that Eugene got shot, but he is perplexed by the way Arnold reacted to the tragedy. He concludes that Arnold is “either a moron or hes so reasonable that hes way ahead of us” and observes that “the most reasonable guys are mean ones. They dont feel nothing”. This verdict passed in front of Arnold makes him uneasy. His uncle Andy takes the sheriff’s words seriously and Arnold could sense the meaning of his glances. In a confused state mind, Arnold tries to remain silent though he is disturbed by the way people have started to see him as a monster. His attempt to reach out to his mother fails miserably. He faces neglect and resentment from his sister Nora, though he is relieved that his father still recognizes his existence. The adults in Arnold’s immediate surrounding fail to understand his state of mind. The fact that he does not behave in an expected manner to the tragic death of his brother estranges him from them. However, the author focuses on his inner turmoil, as he is extremely hurt by the way people have interpreted his actions. In fact, he is unable to explain why he went on picking peas when he was expected to run back home to inform his parents of the accident. No one takes into account the shock and pain he could have experienced when his dear brother ceased to exist at a certain moment, in front of him. The author does not describe this aspect in the story. It is apparently a deliberate attempt to leave this for the imagination of insightful readers. As the elders label Arnold as a cruel person, he is completely shattered. He is disheartened and perplexed by the unfair, reductive judgments made by them: “Andy and his father and the sheriff had discovered what made him go down into the garden. It was because he was cruel, the sheriff had said, and didnt care about his brother. Was that the reason? Arnold lowered his eyelids meekly against his uncles stare”. He survives the long day where he is left alone to tackle more cruel judgments from insensitive neighbors, while his family members remain inaccessible to him. It is made clear in the beginning of the story that he had a very good rapport with Eugene, but the rest of the family, as described after Eugene’s death, stay aloof from him. Arnold was perhaps in his true essence in the presence of Eugene. They slept together in a narrow bed in the modest farmer household, and Arnold is described as sharing intimate moments with Eugene in the morning. After a playful wrestling with Eugene in the bed, Arnold is described as laughing “derisively, making soft snorting voices”, and he walks down the stairs, “the laughter continuing, like hiccups, against his will”. However, when he enters the parlor, “he hunched up his shoulders and was quiet because his parents slept in the bedroom downstairs”. Though it is difficult to confirm this as his fear of the parents or his extreme care towards them, it is not at all fair to interpret his mind as cruelly reasonable. Arnold’s greatest disappointment arises from the fact that he is shunned by his mother when he tried to connect to her. He was trying desperately to communicate with her. She would perhaps have been weighed down by grief, but it showed her complete lack of understanding towards Arnold’s state of mind when she thought that he was just afraid of sleeping alone. She is influenced by the view of her brother Andy that Arnold was insensitive to the core to sit silently through the whole day with not a tear in his eyes. Arnold’s mind is full of remorse and sorrow when he tries to reach out to his mother. He expects her to understand him, and was hoping that they would be able to deal with their feelings of distress if they were together. The frail child’s mind of Arnold longs for consolation and he wants to share the grief with his mother: “He had expected her to tell him to come in, to allow him to dig his head into her blankets and tell her about the terror he had felt when he had knelt beside Eugie. He had come to clasp her in his arms and, in his terror, to pommel her breasts with his head”. Even if the harsh response from his mother would perhaps have been unintentional, the cruel neglect from her part was the final blow on his devastated mind. Arnold is depicted in the end as realizing the futility of trying to convince the outside world of his real identity and needs. He becomes what they imagine him to be. Eugene’s death causes the abrupt loss of his childhood and tender feelings. He is no longer hopeful of making a real connection with other human beings. When his mother asks him in the morning what he wanted the previous night, he says flatly, “I didn’t want nothing”. As the adult world shuns him, he responds to it by accepting the identity that suits their expectations. He too shuns his self, and retreats to a senseless life. Read More