"As big as light" by Robert

            “As Big as Light” by Robert is about an old house servant with dementia or some other condition that causes him to lose his memory. Taking the advice of a doctor, he writes down his memories so he won’t lose them completely. He recalls one memory from his time as a servant in which Adrian Huxley, the artistic son of the wealthy businessman James Huxley, talks to him about his dying mother and his stressed relationship with his father.

            Robert’s story is very nicely written. It reads smoothly, has great images, great language and a good sense of setting. Dean, the house servant, gives us some really good descriptions of the Huxley Manor, which are made even more precious by the great effort he exerts to furnish them.  I loved the description of Adrian’s domino portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, partly because of the point of view he tells it from and partly because of the rich detail. I think seeing this wealthy family and their interrelations from this aging servant’s point of view gives the story a really raw and powerful literary element. He gives us a view of the family’s most intimate reality, the story of the wealthy, seemingly perfect family that only someone like a servant could know.

            I think there are a lot of things Robert could do with this story, and if he does any of them with the same finesse in the existing story, it will be good. There’s nothing I would take out; I think everything works to reveal character, mood, and setting. I think it might be good to know what kind of person James Huxley really is: is he really hateful and not accepting of his son, or is this more a product of the emotional stress of the dying Mrs. Huxley? At the end, it appears Adrian has transformed from a boy to a man. I’m not sure there’s quite enough going on to understand how this came to be. Also, I’m not sure if the end is saying a boy’s tears are too sacred to lose or if certain tears are too sacred. All around, a really solid story.