Secrets. The Beautiful short story Secrets is based on the theme of relationships, which Bernard Mac Laverty explores thoroughly.

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The Beautiful short story Secrets is based on the theme of relationships, which Bernard Mac Laverty explores thoroughly. The story is about a boy who has a very strong relationship with his aunt. However, one day he reads some of his aunt’s private letters, and there relationship is changed forever. In the first part of the story, the reader is quickly familiarized with the character of the boy. The reader notices that he prefers to choose the easy way around things, by doing what is expected of him rather than the harder option, which would be doing what he wants. “He knelt at the bedroom door to join in the prayers.” He only went to the ‘door’, which suggests he didn’t want to be too closely in contact with his aunt. He ‘joined in’, which highlights how he did it just to be like everyone else. We know this from him being easily distracted by other things later in this section, proving his lack of concentration on the situation. The theme of relationship is established in the opening section of the story. “He closed his hands over his face so that he would not have to look, but smelt the trace of his girlfriends hand cream from his hands.” As he didn’t want to look at her in this undignified state, this line suggests that at one point in the past, the boy had quite a close relationship with his great aunt. He wanted to remember only the happy times, prior to the present, and not remember her for what she looks like in the dying state she is in. However we also get the impression in the first section that something might have happened that destroyed their tight bond. The very first sentence is, “He had been called to be there at the end.” The word ‘called’ shows that he didn’t particularly want to be there, which would be unusual under the circumstances of them having a good relationship. It suggests he was required to be there by others. His mind is obviously in other places (probably thinking about his past times with his aunt) , which suggests he is uncomfortable being there with his aunt ‘at the end’, when she is dying. Emphasis on their relationship is made again when the narrator was ‘trembling with anger or sorrow, he didn’t know which’. He is unsure of his emotions, but if someone you had had a good relationship with was dying, ‘sorrow’ is what would be expected. The verb ‘trembling’ is normally associated with fear, not anger, and suggests that he is unable to release his feelings or talk to anyone about it. The setting of the story goes back in time (Flash Back), when the boy was young. He talks about when his aunt read to him, and which books she read repeatedly. Some of the books mentioned are heavyweight classical books, possibly suited more for people older than him. This suggests she treated him more maturely that he actually was. “She would sit with him on her knee, her arms around him and holding the page flat with her hand. ‘Arms around him’ continues this idea. ‘Holding the page flat’ conveys the extent to which she made sure the boy was as comfortable as possible and could see the book clearly. Also, because the aunt was reading to him, when it is something you would more likely expect his own mother to do. We then get the impression that there might be some sort of issue between the aunt and the boy’s mother. The boy tells his aunt the mother had said she might have some stamps for his collection. She replies, “Does she now -?” The word ‘she’ is quite patronizing, and because the reply is short, it suggests she said it in quite a patronizing manner. ‘Perhaps it’s best’ shows the aunt said it in a nice way to the boy, so that he didn’t suspect anything wrong between them. She didn’t order him to do it, and just made it a suggestion.

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 Later, the boy asked her if her friend was killed in the war. “At first she said no, but then changed her mind.” ‘Perhaps he was’… The way in which she answers, and then changes her minds show she is uncomfortable lying to the boy. She decides to be honest with him. The word ‘perhaps’ indicates that she turned it into more of a joke rather than come right out with the truth. This aspect of the aunt’s character shows she is uncomfortable speaking about her ‘friend’. This is emphasized when she changes the subject, ‘go and see what ...

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