Welshman Johnny then puts his Hotspur down and starts to think back to the very day that his brother told him he was to move schools and continue his education over the English boarder. As he recalls, he was sitting on the bridge when Math told him the news. Johnny was, at the time, pretending that the bridge was a ship and he was the captain.
“The bridge wasn’t an ordinary bridge then, of course, it was a captain’s bridge,” R.Gerallt Jones writes. “My ship was on its way to India and China to see the treasures of Peru and the little yellow children it talks about in the hymn.” I chose this quote because it demonstrates the vivid imagination of Johnny and the games that he enjoys to play when alone in his own company.
Even when his brother Math is trying to tell him the big news, Johnny keeps on pretending, moving underneath the bridge as if stepping down a level on his ship. Johnny remains silent, refusing to reply to his sibling, until he takes up the role of someone on the ship and talks to him as if he were the leader.
“Captain, sir, I have an important message for the fleet, sir,” Math says, playing along with Johnny’s childish fun. But Johnny is not impressed by this, and quickly changes the game, now imaging that he is living in a cave without anyone knowing that he is there. These actions on Johnny’s behalf show the reader that he young and vulnerable.
Math then storms off, frustrated that he has been unsuccessful in telling Johnny the news concerning his schooling. Math was anxious to tell Johnny himself – we know this as he quickly tries to grab Johnny’s attention on three separate occasions.
Math, a fifteen year-old student, finally manages to tell Johnny the news but he is very confused. He starts thinking about all the things that he would miss, his daily walk in-between the hedges to school, for example. Furthermore, he did not really grasp the concept of ‘going away’, wondering how far it was that he was expected to live.
“Was it father than Pwllheli? Perhaps it was as far as Bangor,” thought Johnny. This emphasises his inexperience in travelling and shows that he is not used to going very far from his hometown. Moreover, he thinks that ‘Shrewsbury’ sounds rather similar to ‘strawberries’, and they could be found as near as Llaniestyn. This, again, shows the reader that he has a keen imagination. He ponders about whether or not that was where he was going, still thinking about all the many things that he will miss doing.
Johnny then goes on to think about a letter he is ‘going to send to his Mam’. In the brief note it mentions about going to India because he does not want to go to school in Shrewsbury. He never really intends on running away, so this further highlights his immaturity.
He throws his comic book on the floor with anger, seemingly entering a youngster’s tantrum.
As he gets on his train, he notices a young boy with the same colour cap as his. Curious, Johnny takes a closer look and realises that he is keenly reading a newspaper. Johnny is amazed; the only person that he has ever seen reading a newspaper is his dad. Johnny does not yet have the intellectuality to realise the informative benefit of reading a broadsheet paper. The only thing that he has ever taken an interest in is comics.
The writer establishes that the change in Johnny’s life is extraordinary and will affect him greatly by listing all the changes that will happen in a matter of days. Seemingly, nothing will be the same again – he must change from child to man once he has entered the mature surroundings of his new school.
Johnny then gets on his train as the journey to Shrewsbury begins. This section of the story is absolutely crucial, as the writer makes clear. R.Gerallt Jones stresses the importance of the journey by thoroughly explaining every event that happens to Johnny and all the people that he sees and meets along the way. Not a detail is left out.
One of the writer’s methods to emphasise that he is on a train is the frequent use of the words ‘Clic-di-clac.’ Johnny is repeated this to himself to remind him to write home to his mother, but it also reminds the reader of his surroundings. Obviously, they are the noises of the train moving along at high speed.
The situation is very different from anything that Johnny has ever experience and he is forced to sit in a corner with his arms folded. He settles down and just watches, nervously, all the people around him. This certainly isn’t something which Johnny is comfortable with.
After a short while, some other boys on their way to England come and introduce themselves to Johnny. First to acknowledge Johnny is a fellow pupil who could be described as a veteran of the school. They have a brief conversation, but Johnny cannot understand the boy perfectly and he eventually resigns to his seat to read his newspaper.
As the train pulled up at Welshpool, three others got on, all laughing madly and thumping each other in a friendly manner. After the excitement, one of them notices Johnny and they start to ask him questions.
“Welshie are you? Welsh? Welsh?” asks the spotty ringleader. Johnny gives he response and the ever-growing audience erupts with laughter. They have no consideration for his feelings, but only care about the fun that they are having. This, obviously, makes Johnny feel small and worthless and makes him even more worried about entering his new environment.
The boy asking the questions appears to be a bully. “Bloody hell, fellers,” he said, “we’ll have some fun with this when we get there. All it can say is yes.” He does not even give Johnny an identity, calling him ‘it’ rather than ‘he’, this may be because he does not consider him worthy of a name. By this stage, Johnny is feeling very upset, pushing himself back into the corner. He tries to take his mind off the boys by thinking about his hero, Cannonball Kidd, but still he feels the tears trickling down his soft cheek. This part of the story is very important as it makes us feel great sympathy for the young Welsh lad. Only a reader with a heart of stone could fight away the tears at this point.
In total, Johnny thinks about writing home on three occasions. Each time the letters mirror his feelings, telling his mum that things are awful and he wants to come home as soon as possible. This makes the reader feel sorry for Johnny as he is being forced to go somewhere when he doesn’t want to and he is already missing his family back home.
Upon reaching Shrewsbury station, all the boys rush off the train. Johnny’s first impression of the school is the headmistress waiting at the station. She carries a thin black walking stick and stands as stiff as a poker as she speaks with Johnny for the first time. “Nice little boys don’t say missus,” says the strict woman. “My name is Miss Darby.” If all teachers in this new school are like this one, Johnny is in for a hard time. The writer has successfully won the hearts of the reader by this stage – not only does Johnny have to go away to school in Shrewsbury, now he must live by the strict rulings of Miss Darby. She walks away and Johnny notices that her bottom wiggles from side to side in duck like fashion. The very fact that he notices such a thing again highlights his immaturity and young age. This is a rather humorous part of the story.
The next paragraph of Gerallt Jones’ story is very strong as it explains the trauma of Johnny’s first couple of days in his new school. Johnny starts by saying that this school is worse than any nightmare that he has ever had, already we are feeling immense sympathy for the youngster. Jones writes, “Every night before going to bed I go to the lavatory to cry quietly and then go back to that old cold barn where everyone is pretending to sleep, and waiting to bait the Welshsie.” Clearly, Johnny is not finding his new environment a pleasant place to be and we are all very sad to read of his Shrewsbury experience. The author is playing on the mind of the reader.
Johnny’s task on Sunday is to write to his mother back home. He has been told to write home and say that he has arrived safely.
In the end, Johnny does not tell the truth in his letter to his mum. He describes the school as ‘quite nice’, even though the boys around him are bullying him. This real letter is very different from the letters that he was thinking about sending while on the train, as he does not want his mother worrying about him. The tone of this letter is very different from the others also, despite its briefness.
In conclusion, the writer successfully makes us feel sorry for Johnny throughout the story. He does this by firstly making him sound young, sweet and innocent, and then putting the character into the situation where he is forced to move away from home. It is clear that he does not have any previous experience of living away and he is very, very worried about the whole thing. Then, as he arrives at his destination, he is mentally abused by the other students. As he is weak and defenceless, the reader is bound to feel sympathy for Johnny as he weeps in the toilet night after night.
On a personal note, ‘The Letter’ is a good short story that I enjoyed reading. It was particularly interesting the way we saw the story from Johnny’s perspective, with him as the narrator. R.Gerallt Jones used some strong issues (such as bullying) to make us feel sorry for Johnny, and they were very effective indeed.