A Shocking Accident
Short story “A Shocking Accident” by Graham Greene tells about Jerome whose going through a tragedy (his father was killed by a falling pig). Jerome get engaged with Sally and she will chance Jerome’s world. Jerome becomes a different, happier person in the end of the story.
In the beginning Jerome was quite young when housemaster, Mr Wordsworth tells to Jerome that his father is died in accident. Mr Wordsworth tells him the incident of his father with the pig falling on him. Why Mr Wordsworth went to the window and turned his back on Jerome? maybe because he started laughing and he didn’t want show it to Jerome.
When Jerome was a child he believed that his father either “ran guns” or was a member of the British Secret Service. He thought his father is a kind of hero, as many of children are thinking about their parents. When he grew up he understood his dad was a common man who wrote books.
Soon, Jerome realized that this incident was a comedy to other people. Jerome rehearsed the method of recounting his father’s death because he wanted to reduce the comic. He was scared how people would relate. He had two possible methods. The first method led gently up to the accident, so it was described the listener was so well prepared that the death came really as an anti-climax. This method was good because people didn’t usually laugh him and they believed the story was true. The other method had virtue of brevity. In this way the main thing came up immediately so the listener was surprised and he didn’t understood story so he didn’t laugh. Jerome scared that his fiancée, Sally, would laugh when she will hear the story of his father’s death. He can’t tell that her himself. He knew that his aunt will inevitably tell how Jerome’s father dead for his fiancée, and that’s why he was very anxious about Sally meeting his aunt. Jerome’s aunt come to visit week before wedding and tell the story quickly and briefly to Sally. She was surprised but she didn’t laugh. Jerome was amazed because Sally didn’t laugh and that’s why Jerome feels his heart sang with joy and that his had appeased for ever!
Jerome and Mr Wordsworth’s dialogue tells little bit about them: Mr Wordsworth didn’t really know how to tell about death, he just shilly-shally. Finally he told it to Jerome and Jerome wasn’t so sure what to feel then. Maybe Wordsworth scared how would Jerome react. I think Mr Wordsworth is careful man, maybe little base (he almost laugh when said “a pig fell on him”. In dialogue Jerome was a silent, typical little boy who was just surprised by father’s death.
Sally’s final comment was very important for Jerome. The comment means that she understood how painful and dramatic father’s death was. She didn’t laugh, she was horrified. And that comment had appeased Jerome’s fear for ever. Sally’s great personality changes his life!
But what happened to pig? I think that pig is alive but he had hurt himself when he fell on Jerome’s father. Maybe the pig has now his own family and his living a life full of joy…… or maybe somebody have ate him. Who knows?

Written by Emma