The Dead Boy At Your Window Analysis

The short story, “The Dead Boy At Your Window,” is about a mother holding her stillborn baby she just delivered. The mother refuses to believe her child is dead. The boy begins to kick his legs (even though he is actually dead) and his parents take him home and raise him as a living boy. Since the boy is dead, he does not eat, grow or have hair. He also has leathery skin, a raspy voice and his parents “stretch him” to make him to make him tall, like the other children his age. The dead boy starts school when he is six years old; he looks different from his classmates and gets bullied. One day, the bullies turn the dead boy into a kite and fly him. The bullies are become bored and let go of the string, then the dead boy flies away. He flies for a long time and eventually lands in a

gray place where there are no stars or mountains. Soon, the boy finds himself among other people who are dead, like him. The people here do not remember much from when they were alive, except for their loved ones. They do not remember their loved one’s names or ages, but they give the dead boy messages to deliver to their loved ones when he returns to the living people. When the boy flies back to the land of the living, he lands near a small village, the boy goes to the first home and delivers one message. Then, the person in that home gives the boy a message to deliver to their loved one in the land of the dead. The boy delivers all the messages to the land of the living and then finds someone to fly him back to the land of the dead. The boy delivers the living people’s messages and the dead people give him more messages for their loved ones, he continues to do this everyday.
This short story seems like a horror story, this is because the story is about a dead boy walking among the living. This short story does not read like a horror story though, it reads like a fairy tale. I believe this is the genre of the story because it has the elements of a fairy tale. These elements include, starting the story with a unique beginning, having good and evil characters, magic or impossible objects/characters and a happy ending (Kautzer). The story, “The Dead Boy At Your Window”, includes all of these elements. For example, a unique beginning, the story begins with “In a distant country.” This is very similar to more common fairytales beginning with “In a land far, far away” or “Once upon a time” (Kautzer). Next, the good character in the story is the dead boy. He tries his best in school and even flies himself between the land of the living and dead every day to deliver messages. The evil characters are the bullies who made the dead boy into a kite to make fun of him (Rogers). Also, the impossible elements are when the stillborn baby moves by kicking his legs and “living” among the living for six years. Also, the dead boy is made into a kite and flies to the land of the dead; these are both impossible in the real world. Lastly, “The Dead Boy at Your Window” includes a happy ending; I believe the ending is jubilant because the dead boy delivers messages between the living and dead. This makes everyone happy because everyone feels a sense of closure. Even though the dead do not remember the names of their loved ones.
The author, Bruce Holland Rogers, wrote this short story as a writing exercise (“Happiness Is Free SF” 1). I believe he wrote this to show universal and timeless love. Everybody has lost a loved one and I believe society has the same feelings. Everyone wants to hear similar things from someone they lost for closure. In “The Dead Boy At Your Window”, the dead people could not remember their names, the town they lived in or what year they died. So, a dead person could have died three hundred years ago and sending a message to their husband or wife that has been dead just as long as they have. The dead boy would still have delivered this message to someone in the land of the living and a widow or widower would have understood this message and related to it thinking it really was their lost spouse.
The narrator is not named in the story, but it is read in the second person point of view. This is because the narrator is talking directly to the readers at the end of the story. For instance, the narrator says the dead boy “may rap upon any window to remind someone – to remind you, perhaps – of love that outlives memory, of love that needs no names.” The directed audience is everyone, there is no particular age group because all age groups are mentioned in this story and both genders are mentioned too. This supports the purpose of love being timeless and universal because males, females, the elderly, and young can all relate to love. For example, every person can relate to a mother or father figure in his or her life. The setting is not mentioned much in the story, except for the land of the dead. The narrator describes this as gray with not stars, moon, sun or mountains. The details describing the land of the dead helps the readers focus on the setting and understand how important this is. The setting is not described in the land of the living; this helps readers understand this setting is not as important because of the lack of description. For instance, the grayness has a great effect on the setting to show the stillness and dead of the land, if every other setting had been described in great detail this would not have had as much of an effect. The time period is not directly mentioned, but we can assume it was a long time ago. This is because fairy tales normally take place in the past and because of the words the writer uses, like diligence, twine (instead of yarn), shrouded (not covered), village and wept (Kautzer).
The theme of the short is, “You can still love someone even if you cannot remember their name or remember them at all”. This theme is given at the end of the story, when the narrator says, “On any night, head full of messages, he may rap upon any window to remind someone – to remind you, perhaps – of love that outlives memory, of love that needs no names.” There are some strong ideas and images given to the readers, this includes the dead baby moving, the dead boy’s appearance, being used as a kite, and the land of the dead. These ideas and images give the reader an emotional effect because many people feel empathy towards a stillborn baby and bullying. These images also trigger a reader’s imagination by showing impossible images and ideas.
The dead boy is easy to analyze, this is because he is a round character (main character) and described in great detail.

His appearance is “ugly,” he is very thin from being stretched out, bald, his skin is dry and his voice is raspy. The dead boy is smart and always answers questions correctly in class; he can even remember all the messages given to him from the land of the dead. Lastly, the dead boy is persistent, he practiced his letters and number so he could do well in school and even continued to deliver messages back and forth between the land of the dead and the land of the living.
The tone of “The Dead Boy At Your Window” is serious but gentle. Although there are strong images and ideas in the story, the tone is not amusing or harsh. This is because a reader could interpret this story as humorous just by looking at the elements, but a serious tone gets the theme/message across to the readers. The tone is gentle because ideas indicate the story is a horror story, but it reads like a fairy tale. I find the irony to be when the bullies made the dead boy up into a kite for fun, but then the dead boy used it everyday to transport from the land of the living to the land of the

dead.
The critical approach one can use to successfully interpret the story is the psychological approach. First, the mother is going through denial and will not accept that her baby boy is dead. Kubler Ross and Kessler explain denial is one of the stages of grief, normally the first stage (3). Denial is used to help a person block out the information they do not want to deal with and only let in the information a person can deal with at the time (Kubler Ross, Kessler 3). In the story, the mother of the stillborn cannot accept that her child is dead because it is too much for her to handle. Next, the dead boy continues to deliver messages from the land of the living to the land of the dead. This indicates some type of psychological desire from his id and superego. His id desires to be with people in the land of the dead because they are just like him. This fulfills the boy’s pleasure principle of fitting in and being accepted (Cherry 2). The dead boy’s superego desires to help the living and the dead; this leads to him feeling pride and accomplishment (Cherry 4). His ego compromises these desires by delivering messages back and forth so he can fit in with the dead people and still help the land of the living and the land of the dead (Cherry 3).
In conclusion, “The Dead Boy At Your Window” reads like a fairytale, even though it uses strong images and ideas that make it seem like a horror story. The author’s purpose is to show love being universal and timeless because everyone can relate to the loss of a loved one. Lastly, the main theme is “you can still love someone even if you do not remember their name.”