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The Inevitability of Death
The school experiences many deaths. Plants, animals, and people all die within the short space of one school year. What the teacher, Edgar, says of the orange trees carries through the story: “I don’t know why they died, they just died.” Despite being the teacher and the authority in the classroom, Edgar cannot always explain why any of the deaths happen. The only thing he and the students can know with certainty is that they died.
Through the events of the story, the students learn that death is inescapable and inevitable. Because all living things are mortal, their deaths cannot be prevented or avoided. Death can be deferred, as shown by the example of the puppy, which could have died under the delivery truck but instead dies two weeks later in the school supply closet. Still, despite the unusual number of deaths this school year, Edgar insists that there is nothing wrong, certainly not with the school. He believes they have just had bad luck. Since death cannot be avoided, people can only control how they react to it. Edgar seems unemotional about death. Since there is nothing he can do about it, he carries on with life and struggles to find value in the life that surrounds him.
Life Goes On
Despite the inevitability of death, life perseveres in the school. When the snakes die, the students are not very upset. When a class pet dies, be it a gerbil, a white mouse, or a salamander, they can be replaced. The students learn not to carry them in plastic bags, then they move on. Edgar’s response to the death of the tropical fish best expresses this theme. He says their deaths were not a surprise. He knows they will die, so he and the students get the lesson over as quickly as possible and then move on. When the puppy dies, Edgar gives the body to the custodian, and the class keeps moving forward. When Kim dies, the charity group offers the class another orphan for them to sponsor. Edgar mentions the deaths of parents, grandparents, and classmates, but these deaths do not seem to impact the classroom.
When kids raise questions about death, they insist that it’s a shame. To avoid dwelling on death, the students ask Edgar to make love to Helen and thereby demonstrate that life has value. Although Helen merely embraces Edgar, and he only kisses her on the brow, the children are satisfied. To further demonstrate the idea that life goes on, a new gerbil walks into the classroom. At this admittedly absurd proof of life’s value, the children cheer wildly.
The Sensitivity and Insensitivity of Children
The children display age-appropriate sensitivity and insensitivity throughout the course of the story. Their reactions to death are characteristic of young children. They are not very upset when the plants and small animals die. They do not have an adult understanding of death, yet they exhibit an interest in and awareness of it. The possible sabotage with the overwatered herb gardens and the suffocated animals suggests that the children have intentionally or unwittingly killed them. If so, their acts reflect an innocent curiosity and experimentation. The children show no remorse. Instead, they simply learn not to overwater plants and to avoid carrying living things in plastic bags. In their roles as fledgling scientists, the students are insensitive to the lives of plants and small animals.
However, the Murdoch girl shows a degree of sensitivity and concern when she rescues the puppy, imagining that it might die under the delivery truck as it leaves. The children also show a growing sensitivity to death in their desire to know where living things go when they die. Yet their questions eventually become philosophical and detached, demonstrating an insensitivity to the emotional experiences they and others have undergone. They demand a reasoned explanation.
During this same discussion, the children are sensitive enough to know that Edgar likes Helen. However, they are insensitive enough to ask for a display of affection. Even though the narrator notes the impropriety of the request, revealing that it could get him and his assistant fired, the children demand a display. They think only of their own desires, their curiosities, and their fears, not of the needs or desires of either their teacher or his assistant.
