The Fall Of Innocence

In the short story “The Fall of a City” by Alden Nowlan, the protagonist and main character Teddy is a boy who lives with his aunt and uncle. His relationship with them seems to be a permanent arrangement, forcing Teddy to create his own make-believe world. This shows that he is very imaginative. In his make-believe world Teddy is the hero, important, not simply a boy who is lonely, shy and emotional. First of all Teddy is a very imaginative boy.

He creates his own make-believe world, where he is the hero; he is King Theodore, the king of Upalia.

Teddy’s imaginative nature is shown by, “In the centre of the room stood a fort and a palace, painstakingly constructed from corrugated cardboard cartons. These were surrounded by humbler dwellings made from matchboxes and the covers of exercise books” (41). On one hand he is imaginative on the other hand he is lonely; he doesn’t have play mates and spend most of his time at the attic.

When Teddy’s aunt says, “‘Seems to me that you’re spending a lot of time in that attic’” (42), his loneliness is evident.

At the same time Teddy is very shy because his uncle always makes jokes about his make-believe world saying that he is playing with paper dolls. “His cheeks were the colour of a tomato” (45) portrays his shame. When Teddy “…was crying by the time he finished tearing it to shreds” (46), his emotional nature is exposed. Because of constant oppression of his aunt and uncle, Teddy loses his innocence and does not believe in his own make-believe world anymore.

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In brief Teddy is a boy who was imaginative, lonely, shy and emotional. Now what remains are only memories. Rafael Franciscon Fontes

The Fall Of Innocence