Analyse af Romesh Gunesekeras 'Wild Duck'

The short story Wild Duck, which is written by Romesh Gunesekera, deals with the concept of social heritage and growing up. The two persons we meet in the story is a father and his son, who are shooting ducks one day on a boat. At first glance it just seems to be a regular story about a relationship between a father and a son but when we interpret, the story has a lot of hidden points about growing up, and becoming a mature individual.

“He sometimes wished his son was bigger – taller and wider – with a bigger tongue; maybe he might have made him talk more, be more open and sharing his view of the way things were. He wanted the boy to get the feel for the whole world and their place in it. You have to move out of your corner” (P.3, line 29-32). The few lines, placed in the beginning of the story tell us that the father wants his son to be more mature, both mentally and physically, and probably to be more like himself.

The majority of the story takes place on a boat, where the father and the son are going to shoot some ducks. The end of the story, however, takes place back home, where they have a conversation, and the father realize that the episode on the boat has changed the boy’s view on his life, and it has also coursed a big move in the boy’s maturing.