Sticks and Stones

A The words unspoken and actions undone may possibly remain so, but what is done can non be undone, and if you cause a situation to go from bad to worse, the consequences of your deed willing come to haunt you. This is what the main character of Trezza Azzopardis short story Sticks and Stones, Lewis, has experienced. Lewis accepts things as they are, even though he wants to change them he imagines hes the kind of individual that challenges teachers like Stott and Walker, the kind that the Headmaster takes seriously. (pages 9-10, lines 61-62). The quote supports the statement and also implies he is a person who blends in, and more importantly, that he does not want to stand out. Hence, he has adapted to his environment because he feels it is the safest thing to do. This has been caused by his mother, who has told him that Its the survival of the fittest passim his entirely life. capital of Minnesota barbarian is not peer of Lewis, but Lewis given his trait of staying in the backg round emphasizes with him surprisingly much.The ability to emphasize so much with Paul causes Lewis to go against his guts that tells him to mind his own matters, so it must have struck a nerve. Being able to identify with Paul so wellhead means he has experienced something akin to Pauls inflections, which the small portion of his past underlines Dont be such a baby. boys will be boys. Its human nature. (page 10, line 69). He sees himself in Paul Fry, and consequently wants to help because he had no help to claim himself.Lewis profession is not stated in the text, but it implicitly indicates that he is a teacher. For instance, the Headmaster catches him after class The next day, Harris (Headmaster) came and found him after class. (page 10, line 79). Moreover, Paul Fry is a student and when Lewis comes home, he has new information about Paul Fry to tell his girlfriend, Anna he wanted to tell her (Anna) about Paul Fry. Later, shed suspire when he came in from work, Whats happened now? shed ask (page 11, lines 98-102).The jump and the whole incident lie to the past, though. The short story is about Lewis reflecting on the past, which is wherefore flashbacks occur in the middle of the storyline. In the present, Lewis has no connection to the involved people of the event. He has quitted teaching after Pauls death on Lewiss last day, after suggesting he should take some time off. It was the day before Paul Fry was found. (page 11, lines 120-122) and even though he has an old earn from Anna, he has no contact to her Theres a letter for you, his mother shouts. Hes been there a month now, andhas had no phone calls, certainly no letters, no nothing at all from Anna. (page 8, lines 1821-22) Lewis puts it to his face. He cant find the scent of her in the words (page 9, line 40). The letter is definitely from Anna and has lost its scent, which implies that it has had one, but has now faded with time, which means it is old. The remorse of Pauls death is so strong th at it causes him to dream of his dive into the beach.This indicates it was the same day Paul died, and more so does the fact that the boys had never been all the way to Lewis place at the beach. The boys went out to beat up Lewis, because as Lewis tells us, he observed Paul being beat up and making no sound hence, the death of Paul and they wanted to shut up Lewis. The use of flashbacks throughout the plot keeps the reader at suspense. Lead on by a in media res start, Trezza Azzopardi keeps building up the suspense. The flashbacks are never out of circumstance they always occur at a setting relevant to it.As a natural follow-up on the flashbacks, Azzopardis short story ends with change in the main characters person. That is why Lewis throws out the pebbles, because for each pebble he has felt his life was difficult. Paul Frys incident has haunted him for yearn enough and he now wants to move on. After he throws away the pebbles, the waves of the beach does not trouble him anymo re and he can finally pick up to the humming earth, which indicates the change. A change long awaited caused by merely one devastating mistake.