The main character in Doris Lessing’s “A Sunrise On the Veld” realizes that everyone and everything goes through pain and struggle, and that life isn’t perfect. When the boy stumbles upon a dying buck during his secret hunting journey, his enthusiasm and cocky attitude that collected within his young soul at the beginning of the story, begin to die out. The boys change reveals the theme that in order to mature, you must experience a great deal of pain and embrace life’s struggles. At half past four in the morning, the boy sneaks out go hunting. He is ecstatic about his life and his accomplishments that are leading him into adulthood. His journey resembles a “high on life” kind of feel. He feels powerful, and rulely. In the beginning, the boy is
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To show how the boy acts, Doris Lessing writes, “But he played with it for the fun of knowing that it was a weakness he could defeat without effort; just as he set the alarm each night for the delight of the moment when he woke and stretched his limbs, feeling the muscles tighten, and thought: Even my brain — even that! I can control every part of myself” (Lessing 1). This passage brings out the boy's feelings about his own control. He is obsessed with his ability to control his ever so good life. His favorite part of his day is waking up at the crack of dawn and feeling his muscles tighten, making his brain tell him that he can conquer anything. He is anxious like a little kid on Christmas Eve who is eager to tear apart the presents beneath the tree. But as the story goes on, the boy is overcome with sorrow after he cannot save a dying buck. This causes him to change into a boy with a sense of thought and empathy for not just himself, but everything around him. Doris Lessing later writes, “He gripped the gun between his knees and felt in his own limbs the myriad swarming pain of the twitching animal that could no longer feel, and set his teeth and said over and over under his breath: I can’t stop it. I
To show how the boy acts, Doris Lessing writes, “But he played with it for the fun of knowing that it was a weakness he could defeat without effort; just as he set the alarm each night for the delight of the moment when he woke and stretched his limbs, feeling the muscles tighten, and thought: Even my brain — even that! I can control every part of myself” (Lessing 1). This passage brings out the boy's feelings about his own control. He is obsessed with his ability to control his ever so good life. His favorite part of his day is waking up at the crack of dawn and feeling his muscles tighten, making his brain tell him that he can conquer anything. He is anxious like a little kid on Christmas Eve who is eager to tear apart the presents beneath the tree. But as the story goes on, the boy is overcome with sorrow after he cannot save a dying buck. This causes him to change into a boy with a sense of thought and empathy for not just himself, but everything around him. Doris Lessing later writes, “He gripped the gun between his knees and felt in his own limbs the myriad swarming pain of the twitching animal that could no longer feel, and set his teeth and said over and over under his breath: I can’t stop it. I