The main character, Jerome, is a boy of nine, who is told that his father had been accidently killed by an overweight pig falling from a balcony. When he grows older, he realises people are unable to suppress their laughter or amusement at the comic aspect of the story of his father’s death and this makes him reluctant to tell the story. In the end, he dares not tell it to his fiancée, Sally, but his aunt does. To his surprise, Sally does not laugh, but she feels it is a horrible accident.
When People usually hear about somebody’s death, they feel sad, and sympathise with the relatives. The author, Graham Greene, is good at observing human nature and this can be seen in the story; when people hear about Jerome’s father’s unusual and unexpected death, they react in different ways. The reactions are very believable and you might think if you heard a similar story then you would react in the same way.
The author uses the characters in the story to show that there are many ways to tell the story of Jerome’s father’s death. He contrasts serious and comic aspects of the story, in particular the serious idea of death with the ridiculous way in which it occurs.
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