Analysis Of The Fall Of A City By Alden Nowlan

From day one, kids are expected to meet the standards of their generation, and as a result children are taught what to do and how to act in order to reflect these expectations, however these limits can impact a child's imagination. A kids' imagination can cause the child wanting more of what they cannot have, and lead to a life that they want to escape. In Alden Nowlan's expressive short story “The Fall of a City”, it conveys the creativeness of kids' imagination. The Main character, Teddy, has a make-believe world where he frequently puts himself in the shoes of a character. This make-believe world is made up of pieces of cardboard and paper, located in his attic, where he spends most of his day. His aunt and uncle, whom he lives with, are

The first pages of this short story are used to describe the events of his world, indicating that this will set the foundation of what Teddy feels or is thinking. On the first page, the narrator describes how “armies… were attacking [his land]”, showing that he imagined this attack. Although it is not stated directly that he is doing this, before the attack when he looked around in the things in his attic, in the center of the room “stood a fort and a palace… constructed from corrugated cardboard cartons”. Explaining that this palace was made from paper and cardboard shows that this is a fragment of his imagination, among the other things that were placed on the floor around him. These “matchboxes and the covers of exercise books” that surrounded his palace, draw the conclusion to Teddy's imagination of his world. This word had given him an imagination that captivated him, and whenever he went up to his attic, his “eyes had shown with excitement” when he viewed his creation. Though near the end of the story, the narrator explains Teddy had no longer felt the joy as he had used to, and now “there was only a taste like that of spoiled nutmeat”. This reaction of Teddy looking at his kingdom indicated how much it meant to him and how much he uses his imagination, considering how much work he had put into it. Now, Teddy's eyes had longer lit up when he observed his creation and instead of seeing it as an escape, he saw only the words his uncle had thrown at