Worksheet 1

(From the beginning to p. 4 David was an architect.)

1.LANDMARKS
1. The first pages of a novel are very important because they set the action
and introduce the characters.
2. The beginning of The 5th Child sets the atmosphere, presents the main
characters, Harriet & David, and gives information on how they met & on
their physical description and personality.
3. The first approach which is given of the two main character is their being
conservative, old-fashioned , abstemious and ordinary.
4. The scene takes place at an end-of-year office party.
5. The text can be divided into 4 parts:
a) l. 1-10: Two very conservative people.
b) l. 11-28: two observers versus hectic dancers at the party: H & D are on
the fringe of the party, they keep out of things, stand apart.
c) l. 29-38: Harriet's description from D's point of view/ close-up shot on
Harriet who almost blends into the decor.
d) l.39- 54: David's description / close-up shot on David who's aloof and
doesn't mingle with the partygoers.
6. This first part sets the atmosphere & presents the main characters who
stand out against the crowd of partygoers with their conservatism & oldfashioned ways. They appear as mere observers, they are not taking part in
the action around them; they are different from all the others; they feel
different; they are somewhat out of place as if they were from another
era. Their goals are different too. Harriet is described as a pastelblur, as
in an Impressionist picture or an old photograph, as if she did not belong
to the present time, as if she were not really there, as if she were a ghost
almost! They are both there because of their jobs, but they didn't really
want to attend this function.

2. Main points
The characters
1.
Physical description

David

Harriet

He has serious grey-blue

eyes, is a slight young
man who looks younger
than he is. He also has a
round, candid face & soft
brown hair girls longed to
run their fingers through.
One can deduce that he
is attractive, but he has
a contemplative gaze
which deters girls, makes
them feel uncomfortable.
Thus one may wonder if
his gaze is too inquisitive
or too deep. He seems to
see through people but
doesn't disclose anything
about himself. It seems
like you cannot fool him.
He is a bit intimidating.
He plays no game. He is
not flirtatious or a
womanizer, as we'll learn
later in the book. Like H,
he knows what he wants.

She has curly dark hair,

which is unfashionable ...
blue eyes, soft but
thoughtful ... lips rather
too firmly closed. In fact,
all her features were
strong and she was solidly
built. A healthy young
woman ... She looks
healthy, she must have
character, there seems to
be no nonsense about
her; she does not indulge
in the partygoers'
underhand tactics or in a
little harmless flirtation.
She is not fashionconscious & certainly not
a fashion- victim; one gets
the feeling she is
straightforward, doesn't
resort to any tricks to
appear beautiful; she is
not a scatter-brain. She
also looks inscrutable,
impenetrable, and
uncommunicative with her
too firmly closed lips, and
very much absorbed in her
own thoughts. She knows
what she wants.

Age

30

24

Job

He is an architect.

She works as a graphic

designer in the sales
department of a firm
which designs & supplies
building materials.

How they see each other To Harriet, he doesn't

have the look of someone
solidly planted: he
seemed almost to hover,
balancing on the balls of
his feet. Unlike other
women, she likes his
contemplative gaze which
is so much like hers. His
watchful apartness
mirrors her own. He looks
down-to-earth, sensible.
They obviously are soul
mates. Neither of them
cares about appearances.

He understands that H is
like him, not like the
other guests at the party,
that she dislikes as much
as he does these
occasions. There's instant
recognition. They both
are the no frills no
gimmicks type!

What they think of the They find the way the women are dressed dramatic,
party & the people
bizarre, full of colour: Look at me! Look at me! ; in
other words, these women want to draw the men' s
attention to them, they are on the seduction path,
they put on a show. D & H think they are going to
extremes, are putting too much effort into this, cf
(confer ) Both had reflected that the faces of
dancers, women more than men, but men, too, could
just as well have been distorted in screams &
grimaces of pain as in enjoyment. and There was a
forced hecticity to the scene. Their behaviour is
not natural, it's highly overrated (surfait), they go to
great pains to be noticed; it's ludicrous, grotesque,
they are making a caricature of themselves; it's
almost a puppet show. They are so intent on, eager to

appeal to someone that their features tense up. They

are tense with anticipation and maybe fear: What if
I am not attractive enough? . To H & D,they look
insane, like a bunch of mad people going overboard,
and whom they have no desire to join.
2. D and H's common fate has already started before they meet and the
following words show that they were bound to meet at the party: They
knew at once that this was what they had been waiting for. and Both had
found out who the other was. There is no element of surprise. They merely
know.
3. They don't talk to each other and one might find this odd, but in fact it is
superfluous since they immediately connect, strike a chord & from the way
they stood there as mere observers , they already know they are alike. So,
they simply take off at exactly the same time, as if on cue, and walk
towards each other; D takes her hand as if it were the most natural thing
to do & they leave the party, which they had been both longing to do the
whole evening. It's only after they are alone that they start talking, then
spend the night at D's apartment talking and kissing. They waste no time as
H moves in straight away and they have already decided that they will get
married in the spring. They immediately settle down.
And indeed, Lessing's pacing is eccentric to say the least. In the first part
of the book, before Ben's birth, time flies quickly. Everybody seems quite
light-hearted. Then, in the second part, after Ben's birth, time slows down
and all events are seen as nightmares or plights as if the monstrous child
weighed down on them and kept them from living fully and freely.
4. The common points between H and D is their conservatism, their being
borderline misfits who are simply not in tune with their time or with time.
Indeed, they have the same goals, and their idea of life is upstream/
against the current and the more fluid mores of the 1970s' English society:
Actually, people have fewer children whereas they want to have at least 6
of them as for both of them family life is the basis for a happy one.
They don't gamble.
Later in the book, we'll see that religion obviously matters to them; the

Christian connotations of the names they give to their male children, Paul
& Luke, are unmistakable. This layer of meaning is reinforced by the way
the entire family regularly celebrate the great festivals of the religious
year.
They didn't indulge in sex or slept around before they met and Hariet was a
virgin. Both of them have their ideals: fidelity, love, family life & above all,
a permanent home. They decide to marry & invest all their savings into a
rambling Victorian house.
H gives up her career after the wedding and becomes a stay-at-home mum.
Thus, they are a conventional couple in 1970s' England. However,they live in
the suburbs where many people tend to live, and David partakes in the ratrace (mtro-boulot-dodo) by commuting to London for his work.
Their differences lie in their family background. David's parents divorced when
he was 7 and they both remarried. Harriet is the oldest of three daughters, and
she left home when she was 18, just like Doris Lessing who left home young to get
married.
The fact that H sees D as someone not solidly planted may foreshadow some
problems in their future relationship: D may not be very strong in the face of
potential difficulties.
The party
1. The party is so important in the process of the novel because this is
where H & D met, and it is the only time in the novel they attend a public
function together. Once they will have bought the house, most of the action
will be set there, as if the outside world did not exist anymore. They will
live on the fringe of society with people coming to their place and not the
other way round. With the house, they will create some kind of microcosm
which they will be reluctant to leave; there's only mention of D commuting
to work, H going to the doctor's, the children to school, but the reader is
not really allowed into these premises; except for the institution where Ben
ends up, there's no precise description of the places; they are somewhat
blurred. They are just reminders of the outside world.