Statement of theme for Sher’s “The Man in the Well”

The short story “The Man in the Well,” is about a group of children who find a mysterious man in a well. They do not know anything about this man, and decide not to help him, which leads to his death. Many themes arise throughout this short story and this is how I ranked them:

The statement, “Even in later years, people may have trouble forgiving themselves for bad things they did when they were young,” was ranked as my number one theme. Sometimes it is hard to forgive and forget, especially in this kind of situation. The characters feel responsible for the man in the wells death, and will constantly think about what if they just went for help. Years later they still regret what they did, but you cannot change the past.

            “People need to see one another’s faces if they are to trust one another,” is number two.  The children did not know anything about the man in the well. They could not see him, he refused to answer any of the questions they asked him, and they had no idea who he really was. They didn’t want to help him, especially since the man acted cruel to them, like when he kept repeating all of their names. Maybe if the children saw how desperate his face looked they would have acted differently.

            Next, “Within groups, people may engage in conduct that is wilder, stranger, or more uncivilized then their usual behavior alone,” is ranked as number three. When you are with groups of people you act differently than you would if you were alone. You might tend to do activities that the people around you are doing, just so you can fit in. For example if Grace was alone and heard the man in the well, she probably would have listened to him and went for help. Because she was with everyone else and they decided not to do anything, she just followed what everyone else was doing.

            “Children may have difficulty sharing the perspective of another person,” is number four. These children did not realize what this poor man in the well was going through. They did not think of how mad each of them would have felt if the situation was flipped. They also did not realize of how hungry, scared, cold, and tired he must have been. The man in the well also suffered a terrible death by drowning because of the rain. If the kids were in his shoes, they would have been terrified by the way he died.

            “Children may fail to understand when an adult is in danger,” I feel is number five. In a way, I do not think the children realized how bad this situation really was. Kids are naïve, and do not always notice when something is serious. Plus when children are in danger their parents always help them to make things better. For example on September 11, 2001, everyone who I spoke to that was my age had no idea what was really happening when the planes were hijacked. Kids do not always realize what is going on in the world around them.

            The sixth one I chose was, “We should be more compassionate toward people who are trapped.” The children were pretty rude to this poor man who was trapped in a well. For example on line 32 the man asks, “Are they coming now?” They lie and say they are almost here even though they never went for help. This just got the mans hopes up. The kids were nice when they gave him food. But no matter what you should always try to help someone, especially if they are in desperate need.

            The seventh one that I picked was, “Children are capable of conspiring with one another against the adult world.” The reason I put this one so low was because it really depends on what type of kids you are dealing with. If they are all nice kids, they would not go against what they think is right. In this short stories case it is different. For example, Aaron who is the oldest was the first one who told the man in the well, and lied and said they went for help. He was the first person to lie to the man. After that the kids just went along with it. If there is a leader telling you what to do, people might fear the person in charge, causing them to following his or her orders.

            As number eight I chose, “When dealing with an adult, even a helpless one, children have their minds images of parental authority that affect how they treat the person.” Most children do not like being told what to do. In this short story, the man in the well just kept telling them to get help. He never said please he just demanded them to go and get help. Most kids probably would have obeyed the man in the well, but in this case these kids did not want to be told what to do.

            As second to last I picked, “People project their fears or suspicions onto others, even those who do not actually pose a threat to them.” This I feel was not really a theme in this short story. The man in the story did not explain or express that he was so scared. Also he did not project his fears onto the children, because if they were really scared, they would have gone to their parents for help.

            Finally I chose, “The psychological reality of children and adults is a deep well within themselves that they cannot see into.” I do not feel that this is a theme for this short story. I feel that parents know whom they are, but children do not know yet, since they still haven’t matured or experienced life.