Plot and Structure: The Lame Shall Enter First

     From the very beginning of the story, the author makes it a habit to make noticed eyes and seeing; therefore, creating a theme of blindness in the first part of the story. Also, a deeper meaning is meant when referring to seeing rather than just to see ones surroundings, but also to have insight into subjects and matters. Sheppard the protagonist faces a conflict with himself. He wants to be more than he himself as one man can ever be. He tries to be like Jesus Christ, and save those who do not want to be saved. Rufus Johnson the antagonist is the victim of his choice. Sheppard believes that he can save Johnson, and give him the life he never had, and he feels Johnson was entitled to. Yet, in trying to compensate for the negative influences on the child’s life, Sheppard neglects his own son. Thus creating yet another conflict, man vs. man. Norton, Sheppard’s ten year old son, is grieving the loss of his mother. Sheppard, tells his son that he should move on, yet it is ironic that Sheppard himself has yet to move on. Also, in the main beginning of the story, while eating their breakfast, Norton becomes sick, and regurgitates his meal. This foreshadows that something bad is going to happen. Throughout the journey that Sheppard, Norton, and Rufus embark on, many things go wrong. Sheppard buys a telescope hoping that Rufus will take an interest in space, yet the boy never does. This however creates yet another conflict for Sheppard. Norton questions where his mother is because Rufus mentions that he is possessed by the devil, and will go to hell if he does not change his ways. Norton now wishes to know where his mother is. He wishes so strongly to believe that she went to Heaven, however, she was an atheist just like Sheppard, and is therefore rotting in hell. As a result of Rufus’s lack of interest in the telescope, Sheppard buys him a microscope, with the mentality that if he can get him interested in the small stuff first, then he will come around to being interested in space. This is selfish of Sheppard because this entire time he neglects his son, and it is ironic because Sheppard views himself as selfless, and he is actually the most selfish character in this story. It is also ironic that in an attempt to help Rufus, who was neglected, he manages to neglect and abuse his own son. It is also tragic that he loves Rufus more than his own son. As the story draws to an end, Rufus is taken away, and as he is taken by the police, Sheppard begins to think of Norton, wondering where he is. So, he runs to the attic, to find him hanging by a rope. As he embarked on his flight to see his mother. While not actually meaning a literal flight, Norton killed himself, so that he could escape his problems, and join his mother. Overall, the author created a theme of blindness, and it is ironic because Sheppard is perhaps the most “blind” character of them all. He fails to see the pain his son is going through.