Bobby's Room

"Bobby's Room", by Douglas Dunn, is about a boy named Henry Pollock. He  was an only child and he and no Grandparents. When he was twelve, him and his parents left from Glasgow, their hometown, for a vacation. They soon realized that all the hotels were booked and his parents got into a fight about it. After an hour they found a quaint, empty netherbank hotel and stayed at it for five nights. Mr. and Mrs. Pollock left Henry under the supervision of the owner, Mrs.  Bawden, and her husband, both around 60, in order to traipse around the town and eat in restaurants. Henry felt very isolated and discomforted until they finally left. Two years later, during the summer around July, 14  year old Henry became suspicious of his parents because they kept wispering and talking on the phone. They soon apprised him that they planned to go on a vacation.

"Your mother and I have to go to Singapore," his father said. "We'll be gone for most of July and  all of August and September. And I'm afraid it just isn't practical to take you with us."(73)

Henry didn't like this at all. He'd be missing school.  His parents then informed him that he'd be staying at the same hotel they'd traveled to a few years ago. He was extremely reluctant and tried to resist, but nothing was going to change their mind, so he went with them. When they arrived, his mother told him to write once a week and  to be 'marked up with Country life', and soon after they had left Henry alone with Mrs and Mr. Bawden. During the night, Henry thought of his love for his parents and decided that 'they expected him to be perfect, but they neglected him.'(76) The next morning Henry helped out around the hotel. He found out that the room he'd been sleeping belonged to the Bawdens' son, Bobby. He also found out how much Mrs. Bawden TALKED about Bobby all the time to unknown guests at the hotel. She continually showed guests pictures of him and disclosed everything about him. This made Henry very disconcerted and annoyed. He soon found out someone else shared his same annoyance when a girl named Louise from Lincolnshire visited the hotel. When she asked him to play tennis with her, Henry obliged. Henry asked her what she thought of Mrs. Bawden and she replied, "She certainty doesn't have any secrets."(84) That was when Henry realized they both had the same discontent about Mrs. Bawden and Bobby.

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One interesting thing about 'Bobby's Room' is why Henry and Louise both are disconcerted with Mrs. Bawden talking about Bobby. I think that they both  know that Bobby might have wanted some of the things that Mrs. Bawden prattled on about to be kept a secret, and wouldn't like his life to be divulged to strangers. Henry thinks his parents don't talk about him a lot because he doesn't think they care for him a lot when they left him at the hotel without consideration from him. When he sees how much Mrs. Bawden cares, it sets him off. Henry doesn't have an opinion for anything his parents do, showing a difference in care level. When Henry and his mom were in their car and Henry's dad was checking out the hotel, His mom asked him where they should put the car. When Henry replied that he thought, since there were no cars, there must be room in the hotel, Mrs. Pollock snapped, 'When I want your opinion, I'll ask for it.'(70) Henry soon starts to think that his parents don't nurture him as much as he thought. As they were telling him they were going to Singapore, Henry expected his mom to stay behind, yet she dropped him off in a stranger's hotel and expected him to adapt. Knowing that his parents probably never talked about him, he find this for the first time disturbing. Louise is also set off by Mrs. Bawden's care for Bobby. "I feel sorry for Bobby," she said. "I couldn't stand it if my parents talked about me like that."(84) They feel that Bobby might have wanted some things kept private, but Mrs. Bawden doesn't see this. I think that Because they're teenagers, they want more and more things in their life kept private, so they assume that Bobby might not want everything in his life blurted out to some stranger. This makes them feel odd and perturbed.