Analyse af 'Killing Lizards'

’Killing Lizards’ is set someplace in Africa, near a university campus. It’s a hot and dusty place, with lizards scurrying about, providing entertainment for the boys who live there. The protagonist of the story, a twelve year-old boy named Gavin, lives with his parents in Africa; his sister, a girl of fifteen named Amanda, attends a boarding school in England.

Throughout the story, Gavin seems to feel left out of the family. At one point, he – albeit guiltily – wishes that his sister would die in a plane crash, leaving him alone with his father and mother as the beloved only child; sometimes, he adds his father to the little scenario so that he himself can comfort his mother, also gaining people’s admiration in the process. While I believe these are only idle fantasies and not a serious wish for their demise, this illustrates his feeling of being overlooked. They also serve as an indication of his affection for his mother. After Amanda turned fifteen, her and her mother seemed to gain a connection, often going shopping together and generally doing activities that cause Gavin to feel left out. He feels he cannot intrude upon the mother-daughter bond, and most likely also feels that while his mother loves him, she does not have any particular affection for him. I think he idolizes his mother, or at least wants to; when he dreams of his other family members dying, the people admiring him for his support of his mother whisper to each other, “They’re so close now.” At one point in the story, as he watches her brush her hair, he makes a specific point of telling her that he’s going out – without mentioning where -, hoping that she’ll show interest and ask him about his plans. When she doesn’t, however, he reflects that while he wishes she would care about him more, he does not feel at ease in her company. His reaction to his mother’s affair is rather odd – I’ll expand upon it later. He also kills lizards as hobby, a cruel thing to do as the story specifically states the lizards aren’t hurting anybody, were unafraid of humans before Gavin came along, and are simply lying there and sunbathing. Though he felt guilt at one point, he has suppressed it and continued with this strange hobby.