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8. The Magic Island
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Boy, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Authority and Hypocrisy
Beauty and Imagination
Growing Up
English Nationalism
Summary
Analysis
When Roald is eight, his mother brings him to the doctor in Oslo because she’s worried that he has adenoids, or masses of swollen tissue in the throat that can interfere with breathing. After the doctor looks inside Roald’s mouth, he starts preparing a long metal knife, a bib, and a bowl underneath Roald’s mouth. Calm and unsuspecting, Roald sits and watches. When he opens his mouth for the doctor again, the doctor cuts out the adenoids from his throat, causing a rush of blood and tissue to fall into the bowl. Roald feels shocked and a little betrayed. Thinking back on the incident, Roald remarks upon how strange it would be to remove adenoids without anesthesia now.
There are nearly as many medical stories in Boy as there are tales of corporal punishment. In his narration, Roald often dwells on the evolution of anesthesia between his childhood and the present day. He seems struck by the unkindness of performing a painful procedure on a young boy without any pain relief, and his presentation of his own agony and confusion subtly likens the removal of his adenoids to the canings and beatings he experiences throughout his childhood. Although the removal of his adenoids is medically necessary, the total lack of consideration for a child’s pain constitutes another cruel abuse of authority.
Themes
