Analysis of David Nicholls's 'Every Good Boy'

Finding something that you are good has always been a key part of growing up. Both society and our parents expect us to be particularly good at something. Today’s society is about having a unique skill or being different to others. Although people want to be successful, not everyone has what it requires. Some suggest success requires talent or practice, while others suggest that society’s pressure can negatively impact ones skill development in pursuit of success. In David Nicholls’s ‘Every Good Boy’ the narrator spends hours unsuccessfully learning how to play the piano. David Nicholls’s characterization of the narrator, use of symbols and use of figurative language in the short story ‘Every Good Boy’ suggests a theme about living in a strongly pressuring society that calls for one to stand out from the crowd and be unique.

The characterisation of the narrator, gives us further insight into how the narrator reacts to our society’s pressure to standout. As the narrator’s parents decide that the narrator should learn how to play piano, the narrator explains that he is, in contrast to his siblings, not good at anything. At the age of 9 he explains that, describing himself as being entirely without ability, is an under exaggeration. The way the narrator describes his own capabilities shows the reader how the pressure is mentally affecting him. As he starts learning how to play piano, he has mentally already decided that he never will learn how to play.