Lessing adds further imperfection to the lives of Harriet and David during an otherwise perfect family Christmas, "a cloud…Sarah and her husband, William were unhappily married, and quarreled and made up, but she was pregnant with her fourth, and a divorce was impossible" (28). Lessing adds a further ominous cloud when Sarah’s baby is not a perfect baby but rather is affected by Downs Syndrome. Harriet remarks to David, foreshadowing future events, that "Sarah and William's unhappiness, their quarrelling, had probably attracted the Mongol child" (29). This statement of Harriet is, I believe, very well placed by Lessing. It causes the reader to begin thinking of the possible outcomes of the Lovatts very selfish desire for perfection.

Her pregnancy with Ben is insufferable, and her misery dampens the spirit of the house, a house which cannot handle "tears and misery". "The quietly insistent patient quality that had brought them together…this demand on life, which had been met in the past with respect (grudging or generous), was now showing its reverse side, in Harriet lying pale and unsociable on her bed" (47). A division in the family begins to show itself because of Harriet's pain, which is so bad that she takes massive amounts of tranquilizers. Harriet feels at times that she is pregnant with something evil, an "enemy" (51), perhaps even Satanic: "Sometimes she believed hooves were cutting her tender inside flesh, sometimes claws” (51). Her pregnant state is symbolic of imperfection and evil growing deep within the family.

"The little town they lived in had changed in the five years they had been [there]. Brutal incidents and crimes, once shocking everyone, were now commonplace…The house next door had been burgled three times: the Lovatts' not yet, but then there were always people about…There was an ugly edge on events: more and more it seemed that two peoples lived in England, no one - enemies, hating each other who could not hear what the other said. The young Lovatts made themselves read the papers, and watch the News on television, though their instinct was to do neither. At least they ought to know what went on outside their fortress, their kingdom, in which three precious children were nurtured, and where so many people came to immerse themselves in safety, comfort, and kindness" (30). Thus we see that the troubled world is getting closer and closer to penetrating the Lovatts' "fortress," as close as the house next door. It is shortly after this that Harriet first refers to herself as "a criminal" (34), implying that she is somehow breaking the laws of society. Her crime is attempting to have a perfect life in an imperfect world.

Some topics in this essay:
Harriet David, Sarah William's, Dorothy Ben, Harriet David’s, Ben John's, Doris Lessing, Bad News, Lovatts Ben, Harriet David's, Satanic Sometimes, harriet david, perfect life, fifth child, perfect family, doris lessing, imperfect world, harriet feels, immediately harriet david, immediately harriet, lessing makes, david’s father, lessing harriet david, idea perfect family, fifth child doris, child doris lessing,