Bullying goes on every day some where. We hear about it in the media from time to time. Because of this bullying, life can become hell for some children. But why are some children bullied – why do some children feel the need to single out one child and bully them mercilessly? And is there anything they – or we – can do about it? This is a problem, which the short story “The Highest Branch on the Tree”, adapted from the author Ray Bradbury, deals with.
The setting of this story is firstly 1934 in junior high as we are told by the narrator of the story, Douglas Spaulding. We can guess that the story takes place in the United States of America, as Douglas Spaulding goes to Berendo Junior High School, and he and the other important character, Harry Hands, meet again “in downtown Chicago”. The social class, the characters belong to, is not quite clear, but they come from “somewhere back East” which indicates a lower social class. Douglas tells the story chronologically, starting with when Harry and he first knew each other, and then jumping up to their meeting 40 years later.
In the first part of the story, Douglas narrates the story of how he and the other kids bullied Harry Hands, because “Harry Hands was smarter than anyone else in the whole school… and flaunted his IQ…” This, and the fact that Harry is also good at gymnastics, makes Douglas and the other boys jealous. Since Douglas is so jealous of Harry, he might appear quite stupid – the bullying only adds to that image – but Douglas later becomes a writer, so he might not be that stupid. Making Douglas a writer might also be an attempt to get the reader to connect him to the actual author and thereby making the story more reliable. Douglas’ sensitivity – which is also a good quality to have as a writer – is also apparent as he feels guilty about bullying Harry. He even thinks about it once in a while those 40 years later, when they meet.
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