Summary Of The Fall Of A City By Alden Nowlan

1084 Words3 Pages

It is not simple to maintain an imaginative, colourful society. As stated in the story, society is often an uncommunicative wasteland. The adult world has little to offer its children. The story “The Fall of a City” by Alden Nowlan, is about a young little boy known as Teddy, being parented by two drab, unimaginative adults who corrupt his mind and lead him to destroy his ambition for the future. Without good role models for the children on earth, this world will have no future. To begin with, the author uses foreshadowing in the story to express one’s point of view, proving the hardships this character goes through. For example, Teddy is an ambitious child at the prime of his childhood being overruled by his unimaginative ridiculing aunt …show more content…

As an example, the story starts with Teddy looking out the window. As he watches from inside in the attic, “rain fell with such violence that great, pulsating sheets of water seemed to hang suspended between earth and sky… Raindrops roll like beads of quicksilver down the glass of the high, diamond-shaped window” (Nowlan 1). This quote shows how one can see how at peace Teddy seems to be, supporting the idea that the attic is a safe haven where he can relax and not worry about anything because it is where Teddy made his Kingdom. In that case, the reader understands that the attic represents an escape from reality for Teddy to live temporarily in his dream place. Additionally, the author also employed imagery to describe Teddy’s imaginary world. Teddy turned away from the window and sees “the centre of the room [where] stood a fort and a palace, painstakingly constructed from corrugated cardboard cartons. These were surrounded by humbler dwellings made from matchboxes and the covers of exercise books. The streets and alleys were full of nobles, peasants and soldiers, their two-dimensional bodies scissored from paper, theirs faces and clothing drawn in crayon and lead pencil. From turreted roof of the palace, hung a green, white and gold tri-colour, the flag of the Kingdom of Upalia” (Nowlan 1). In this quote, one can see how much effort Teddy has put into building his …show more content…

Teddy is a character that understood how important his imagination is, but is too young to put this understanding into words. Teddy’s ambition and imagination is being ruined by his aunt and uncle so that he becomes like them. His imagination, which is the key to his future in society, is now reformed. Clearly, life has never been easy for anyone in this world. Instead, it is filled with plenty of obstacles. Children are known as the future generation, but there will be no future when adults allow them to become corrupt. It is important to not allow what adults think is normal to affect the ever-growing minds of children, for, they will only be influenced and become violent, unimaginative, fearful

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