The Son's Fate

This character thread follows the son from newborn to two-year-old, tracing the mother's increasing estrangement from him.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Six-Month Cake

The Six-Month Cake Context The narrator must go to the bakery for cream cake and candles to celebrate six months of her son's life. She thinks of the moment he was conceived and resents the errand. Turn At the family table, the son chews on a leaf in his high chair and shrieks, biting her finger with his gums. The husband wants to plant a tree for the child's long life. Aftermath The narrator smiles like a fool and wishes she were dead. The son's fate is already tied to a mother who cannot feel what she is supposed to feel.

The Little Savage

The Little Savage Context In the woods, the narrator loses sight of the baby, then finds him lying on branches higher than she would climb. He motions to her and says cu-cu ma-ma. Turn She scrambles up to him, and they sit holding on to each other. They mimic animal calls, eat swamp water, petals and leaves, becoming part of the woods. Aftermath She thinks she has given birth to a little savage. The son is being raised not by the village rules but by the animal world around them.

The Accidental Baptism

The Accidental Baptism Context The narrator dunks her son in the icy water of the pond and baptizes him by mistake. He seems too pale to be real, like a sketch of a child. Turn He begins to fade, so she shakes him and wraps him in her red flesh. He comes to at midnight, but his breathing is still laboured. Aftermath The accidental baptism becomes a scene of near-death and reviving. The son's life is fragile in the mother's hands, and she is both saviour and danger.

The Birthday Boy

The Birthday Boy Context The two-year-old is dressed up for his party, with banners, bumper cars and party bags. When it is time to blow out the candles, he spits out his chocolate banana cake and runs away. Turn The narrator chases him, rugby-tackles him, kisses him and breathes him in, and then he escapes again. The other mothers approve while banana threads hang from their teeth. Aftermath The birthday party is the last stage of the son's babyhood. He is no longer a baby, the family says, and the narrator is already preparing to abandon him.

The Boy Who Is No Longer Hers

The Boy Who Is No Longer Hers Context Driving home from the radiologist's house, the narrator asks if the baby is asleep inside. The husband answers that he is not a baby any more. Turn What she understands is that he is not her baby any more. The son has passed into the father's world of football kits and holding hands. Aftermath The boy's fate is to survive his mother's love. She abandons him as a gift to the husband, and he grows up on the other side of her madness.

early in the story, at the baby's six-month milestone

when the son has just started walking

during the same episode in the woods

after the narrator's release, at the son's second birthday

near the ending, during the final separation