"Bobby's Room" -- By Douglas Dunn

Douglas Dunn

         “Bobby’s Room” by Douglas Dunn is about a young boy named Henry. He is an only child, but is neglected by his parents. His family goes on a trip to Scotland, but his mother and father leave him at the inn with the two owners, Mrs. and Mr. Bawden, while they go sightseeing at restaurants. Henry, at the young age of 12, wants to be seen as a well behaved child, and so doesn’t want to cause any vexations to his parents. He stays with the innkeepers and cooperates with his parents’ plans. He makes no complaints. Two years later, Henry’s father, a civil engineer, is commissioned to build a bridge in Singapore and the company offers to pay for his wife to come with him. Bobby’s father and mother decide to leave Henry with the Bawdens. His parents also consider a boarding school, since they know that after this job is over, there will be another, and another after that. For now though, they decide to have him stay at the Bawden’s inn for the summer and have him continue his studies on his own. When his parents leave him at the inn, Henry almost cries because he is very conflicted. He’s sad and afraid, but also angry at his parents. At the same time, because he strives to cooperative and thoughtful, he doesn’t want his tears to make his parents feel guilty for leaving him.

           Henry was conflicted by his fear and sadness on the one hand and his anger at his parents’ unwillingness to have him come with them on the other. He also doesn’t cry, because he doesn’t particularly feel sorry that he will be without parents. They have never been overly involved or concerned about his needs. They have always paid far more attention to each other than to him. They frequently argue with each other and have little regard for his needs or feelings:

Harsh words when they fell out were, Henry knew, a prelude to that kind of morning on which he didn’t see them until it was nearly noon. If these were mornings when he went to school, then his mother hurriedly threw his breakfast together and kissed him on the ear before running back upstairs in her kimono (69-70).

When they leave for Singapore, he is angry at them because he feels as if they regard him as a nuisance. He knows they do not want him along on this trip, just as they wanted time without him on their first visit five day to the Bawden’s inn: “Henry’s parents had three days on their own, without him, and three evenings at the famous restaurant” (71). Henry knew they wanted a vacation from him and time alone and he sees the Singapore trip in the same light.

          All of these conflicting emotions make him reluctant to cry when they leave for Singapore. He craves consideration from his parents, but never asks for anything or causes trouble. He is by nature a very helpful person and becomes invaluable to Mrs. Bawden. Observing Mrs. Bawden, he knows that some kids who are an “only child” are sometimes showered with attention. Mrs. Bawden shows off her son’s picture to any guest willing to hear her motherly pride. He also sees that when an “only child” is on the periphery of his or her parents’ lives, that two options are available as well. When he meets Louise (a guest at the inn), he sees that an “only child” might also choose not to cooperate and instead become petulant and be “festering on the edge of a bitter family insurrection” (85). In fact he recognizes that this is likely the way his mother was when she was his age. Before he is left at the Bawden’s inn, his mother tells him he will follow a program of study outlined by his teachers, yet “he knew enough about her to know that if she had been given a ‘program of study,’ she’d have collapsed in tears” (74). However, Henry is cooperative and he doesn’t cause trouble. Even when he wants to be “stubborn and obstructive” his only objection to this parents’ plan to leave him while they go to Singapore is “there isn’t a lot to do at the Bawden’s” (74). His time on his own though, may have changed him: “he suspected that a time would come, when his parents would regret the three months in which they had hived him off to the Bawden’s” (87). The author ends his short story by leaving the reader with a bit of an uncertain outcome. Two main options are possible: his attitude may become more like Louise’s, or, more likely, he will just not care much about his parents, and continue living his life independent of them.