This is a short story written by Graham Swift. In the story we meet Frank Randall, his wife and four sons. The narrator is Mark, one of the sons. The main character is Nick or Nicky as he is called. Nicky was meant to be a girl, so his mother covered up her disappointment. She would have loved having a little girl, but still she loved her four boys, and ironically enough Nicky most of all. He was the youngest and he was every girls dream. He was handsome, reckless and charming. He would always get his will through. So when he wanted a motorbike he got it and no one tried to take it away from him.
It says on the first page ll. 4-5 that: She"d married a farmer with her eyes open and knew the score. I think that this indicates that Nicky's mother let a life not unlike his. I think she was free as a bird before she met Frank Randall, but when she did she fell in love with him and did not mind giving up her freedom. In Nicky she saw some of that freedom, and that is why she loved him so much - even though he was not a girl. His mother did everything to please him. His brothers, however, saw him as a small kid. Michael for instance is 12 years older than he is. Of course they still loved him, but I think they had a hard time understanding him. On page 2 ll. 52-55 it says: Mum would have hated stopping him having his own way ( ) All the time, I could see her dreading the worst, and it happened. This, I think, proves my point. Even though she thinks that something terrible is going to happen she wants him to be free and live the life she gave up many years before. Nicky and his mother are very strongly connected. I know of no seventeen-year-old boys who would let their mother do their hair, but Nicky lets his mother do his.
On the top of page 2 the narrator writes that the mother doted on Nicky, more then if he had been a girl. First this does not add up, but if you think about it perhaps it could anyway.
