The Small World
The story is set in a small town at the bottom of the globe in a time period long before the advent of the internet. It is almost impossible for young people today to imagine just how small the “world” was for people living in such circumstances. This is the mindset which is at work when the narrator asserts “The Reservoir haunted our lives.” This metaphorical encapsulation of those circumstances is made concrete when the narrator explains that every household had used a private pump to get their water. The extraordinary isolation and alienation of such living conditions becomes a major thematic element of the narrative.
Obedience to Authority
Another significant theme is the inculcation of obedience to authority which begins at the level of kiddom. “By afternoon the creek would be on high-flow, turbulent, muddy, unable to be jumped across or paddled in or fished in, concealing beneath a swelling fluid darkness whatever evil which `they,’ the authorities, had decided to purge so swiftly and secretly from the Reservoir.” The metaphorical complexity of the simple word “they” is almost beyond comprehension. The young kids have already learned the fine art of doubting the veracity of authority figures while at the same time being hesitant to test the limits of that skepticism.
Curiosity
Curiosity is what eventually drives skeptics to move beyond their fear of authority figures. This inevitable reality is expressed through one of the story’s most poetic and extended use of metaphorical imagery. “Then one day when our restlessness was at its height, when the flies buzzed like bees in the flypapers, and the warped wood of the house cracked its knuckles out of boredom, the need for something to do in the heat, we found once again the only solution to our unrest.” Flypaper is the bane of flies whose curiosity overwhelms their instinct. The imagery of cracking one’s knuckles is perhaps not quite as dominant an expression of boredom as it once was, but the narrator spells it out, so the message is still easily received. This metaphorically rich passage situates tedium as an engine of curiosity which often leads to the equivalent of human flypaper.
Sexuality
These kids may be literally isolated from most of the world, but that doesn’t mean they are entirely innocent and ignorant. They are forced to find entertainment where they can get it and that means spying on romantic couples which means learning some metaphorical terms that reveal there is no place where kids can stay completely innocent. “Would he wear a frenchie? If he didn’t wear a frenchie then she would start having a baby and be forced to get rid of it by drinking gin.” These kids may be awed by the simple act of drawing water from a tap inside the house, but they already know enough to speak in metaphorical slang about condoms and induced abortion even if their grasp of precise details may be dodgy.
Darkness
Darkness is the defining metaphor of the modern age. It inevitably turns up in a substantial majority of fiction produced since the last half of the 20th century. It has already been used to refer to the evil which “they” warned about. Later, the narrator will describe his flights of fancy about just exactly what the mysterious Reservoir really was when he admits that despite being told it is like a lake, “I thought it was a bundle of darkness and great wheels which peeled and sliced you like an apple and drew you toward them with demonic forces.” This metaphorical expansion reveals the extent to which the indoctrination of the forces of authority have worked their magic. The Reservoir has gone from a vague “swelling fluid” of whatever to something very precise and horrifying in the narrator’s frenzied imagination.
