It is about a child named Violet. The story starts in “Media’s res”. It’s a cold Christmas and like a good religious Christian family, Violet and her family go to church. Though Violet is mute she’s still very observant and in the church she notices a picture of a woman in a blue dress. Without knowing that the woman on the painting is Marie (the mother of Jesus) Violet begins to admire this woman. Of course she can’t ask her parents about the picture because of her muteness.
One day Violet is outside and she picks up a “curled-up embryo”, which has been left by its mother. Like every other little girl Violet pretends that she’s a grown up and so she decides to take care of the bird and puts it in her mitten. Violet doesn’t see the world and religion like adults do and therefor people are often misunderstanding her.
One day Violet sees the picture of Marie holding Jesus on the front-page of her father’s newspaper, she gets jealous – probably for the first time. L.49: “I Stared at the baby’s face and hated it as I’d never hated anything before. She was looking down on it, smiling at its bald head. And I could tell how she loved it.” And because of her jealously she stabs two holes where the baby’s eyes (Jesus eyes) are and draws blood with a red crayon. To Violets great surprise her parents get so upset that her mom brings her to a priest to get advice. L.122: “My mother looked pained. She dropped my hand so that she could tangle her fingers together. “We just don’t know what to think, you see”. Violet thinks it is because she drew on the newspaper but she wouldn’t know because the parents never explain anything to her.
I think the main theme of this short story is the upbringing and the relationship between children and their parents in a religious family. The embryo Violet finds can be compared to her relationship with her own mother. It symbolizes that she wants to take care of it like she wants her mother to take care of her. Violet is an innocent child. When Violet sees Marie (Marie symbolizes innocence and purity) for the first time she is lighten up by candles which symbolize hope.
The next time Violet goes to the church all of the candles is gone (hope is gone). Instead she sees a faded photograph of black tribesmen between priests on the pale green wall above them. As innocent as Violet is she imagines that the tribesmen are cannibals. She doesn’t get the slightest thought of religious contexts. Because of Violets drawing her mother takes Violet to a priest. At the priest she eats the picture of Jesus to show how much she hates him. At the same time the picture of the tribesmen smashes to the ground which symbolizes that she cannot be converted the same way as the tribesmen could. We have sympathy for Violet. We see from her point of view how she’s being misunderstood and forgotten by her parents.
The story proves the major difference between children and adults. Children are often inexperienced and more fragile. They need to experience and try out limits to know what’s right and wrong. Violet does these kinds of things but the adults in her surroundings seem to be unknown of this pretty normal period of a childhood. Violet misses the love which she sees and feels in the picture of Marie. Marie symbolizes the mother who Violet wishes she had.
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