Chapter - 8

A Story

Dylan Thomas

Summary of the story

A child is the narrator of this story. He presents the adult’s from a child point of view. This story is about a day’s outing to Porthcawl by motor coach. The young boy lives with his uncle (Mr. Thomas) and his uncle’s wife. In the first part of the story, the boy describes his uncle and aunt using a lot of comparisons. The uncle is a very big man but the house is small. He drops a lot of food on his clothes when he eats. He is very loud and has red hair. He has a small shop in the house. The boy’s aunt is small and quiet. He compares her to a mouse and a cat because cats walk quietly. The aunt spends a lot of time cleaning the small house. In the story, she becomes angry at her husband because he is going on an outing with his friends. She is angry because, on the outing, her husband will drink a lot of alcohol. In the next part of the story, the boy describes some of the other men who are the friends of his uncle and going on the outing. Mr. Benjamin Franklin is the main person to organize the outing. He collects the money for the coach and 20 cases of light beer for each person that he would distribute among the members of the outing on the way. Another person is Will Sentry, who always follows Mr. Franklin.

Finally, the boy describes the outing. He has to go on the outing because his aunt has left and there is no one at home to take care of him. During the outing, they stop at every public house and drink alcohol. The boy has to wait outside because children are not allowed into bars. They go swimming in a river near Porthcawl but they do not actually arrive Porthcawl.