Sunrise on the Veldt - Doris Lessing

Sunrise on the Veldt written by Doris Lessing is a dive into a usual but unusually strange journey of a boy through the forest at 4:30 in the morning, and the grim spectacle which would throw him off of his perception of life. As the non-idyllic truths are revealed to him, the story sharply changes its mood from energetic and happy to a mellowed down deathly feeling.

The summary to the lesson is given here.

The boy, a 15-year-old boy sneaks out of his house on an extraordinary journey, along which he realizes the true meaning of life. With the feeling of invincibility, the boy walks out of his house with his father’s gun.

The graph below would help you understand more of the boy’s journey.

 

The setting of the story is an African Veldt which is basically an open grassland region. The Sunrise signifies enlightenment which is brought upon the boy. If you notice the sun rises only after the boy encounters the dead buck which provides a symbolical meaning to the whole text.

In a sort of beautiful way the story contrasts itself. Invincibility in the start of the story contradicting weakness towards the end.

This poem also tells us that a man is most susceptible to arrogance in his youth. As you are at the peak of your physical strength and are as flexible as clay when encountering different situations. It is also in the youth, a man is more susceptible to mental pain as his mind is still developing and building opinions. Hence, most mental traumas affecting people occur in their youth due to which they are restricted of certain activities in their adult life.

The story concludes with a conflict change as it starts from Man vs. Nature and midway turns into Man vs. Self.

Prevalent Themes:-

Invincibility, Death, Deathlessness, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Self

http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-nature-ephiphany-experenced-boy-doris-266056
refer to the above link for an interesting take on the lesson.