Stone Boy

465 Words2 Pages
In “The Stone Boy”, each of the characters reacts very differently to the death of Eugie. For instance, Arnold’s mother reacts by grieving, and shunning Arnold. His mother curved “her fingers in her hand all through the meal so as not to see him” (349). His mother is disgusted by the fact that Arnold didn’t come home right away, but instead left his dead brother’s body in the field where he died, as she rightly should be. It is understandably terrifying for a parent how nonchalant Arnold acted when confronted by the dead body of his brother. She avoids him because she does not want to think about the virtually psychopathic nature of the incident. She believes that there is something wrong with Arnold. She also denies that this could have happened…show more content…
He is more curious than angry when he finds out about the accidental murder. “His father’s eyes, larger and even lighter blue than usual, were fixed upon him curiously”(348) when the sheriff asked him why he didn't come home right away. Even though he might find Arnold’s actions strange, and he is saddened by Eugie’s death, he does not shun Arnold like the rest of the family. He tries to be reasonable, and put himself in Arnold’s situation. He realizes that, as strange as this sounds, “If your brother is shot dead, he’s shot dead”(351). Arnold realized that there was nothing he could do to help him, so he continued on with what he planned to do. Obviously, his father had his doubts about how sane Arnold was, but he pushed through that and accepted Arnold back into the family, which makes him a better man than most of us, and most of the people in the story. Overall, everybody will react to grief differently. Some, like Arnold’s mother will handle it poorly, and have a breakdown, and others, like Arnold’s father, will appear to handle it well, though they may have problems they conceal. Though there is not necessarily a right way to deal with grief, everybody finds their own ways to move on. In “The Stone Boy” Gina Berriault analyzes just two of the many methods of dealing with
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