The Fall Of A City By Alden Nowlan Summary

In The Fall of a City, written by Alden Nowlan, Teddy’s aunt and uncle are not good parents for him. In the story he is seemingly constantly picked at by his aunt and uncle (more so his uncle). His guardians also do not seem to take the time to understand their kid and resort to commenting on his “hobby”. Finally the most important reason that his aunt and uncle are not fit to parent him is the title itself “The Fall of a City”; the cumulative result of their poor parenting.

Teddy’s parents are consistently, throughout the story, bullying him. They make comments about his behaviour like: “Half the time, he doesn’t know whether or not he’s living on earth or on Mars” (43), or “His uncle gave him a disdainful look. “He just about lives up there, doesn’t he?” (43). Then after his uncle than threatens him with violence if he is up to some of his “monkey-shines” (44). After invading his privacy his uncle comes down and says: “…that great big lummox (i.e. a stupid person) has been playing with paper dolls!” (45). This makes Teddy very embarrassed and angry, and his uncle even says that he (Teddy) will be wanting them to put skirts on him with hair ribbons. The mocking of Teddy and comparing him

Teddy in the story, is very creative and crafts a story probably a year in the making, with a city that has possibly been growing with it, but his parents do not seem to get this and this misunderstanding causes him to be very hurt. When his uncle came down from the attic he “flushed and stiffened” (44), obviously preparing for the berating that was to come from what he found, and they ignore all his pleas that they aren’t paper dolls: “And he could never explain; they would not let him explain” (45). The ignorance of his parents is astounding, their complete inability to look at his work for something other than dolls, this ignorance is another reason why his guardians are not fit for