Miranda fetched a stone, a huge flat stone, just the right stone. When Mason saw Miranda, wheeling it, he said, “You’re a good little girl. ” Miranda picked up the stone as high as she could and let it drop on Mason’s head. She’d killed the nasty Little Girl Eater. Miranda is clearly a resourceful little girl because she knew there was something ‘quaint’ going on between her mother and Johnny. She is curious and inquisitive because she is fascinated by what Mason is doing, because she can only view half of his body.
She is gullible because she believes what Johnny tells her about the Little Girl Eater and is frightened of adults. We know this because she didn’t shout at Mason and ask him what he was doing because she was frightened that Mason might start to get angry. She wants to please her mother and likes her mother’s friend, Johnny, because she kills Mason and runs off to tell her mother and Johnny. She thinks her mother will be pleased that she has killed the Little Girl Eater.
Mason is a seriously brave man because he knows he hasn’t got a lot of time left before he dies, and still doesn’t give up hope of survival. He is quite intelligent and inventive because he thinks of numerous ways to save himself but, unfortunately, he does not succeed. He is hopeful and understands children because when Miranda ran away from him, he knew that she would tell someone, most likely an adult who was taking care of her or her parents. Mason is not a fool and is elated when Miranda comes back; he thinks he is saved, just as he had predicted.
Mason is a generous and polite man, as he is kind to Miranda even under so much pressure and pain. Mason is unlucky to be so near to being safe but yet unfortunately killed by a little gullible girl, which leaves me feeling sorry for Mason, but also makes me feel Miranda, her mother and Johnny should be punished as they are all responsible for Mason’s death, directly and indirectly. There are many ways that the ending is unexpected. First of all, the reader and Mason think he is saved. In many ways, it is harsh, because Mason has been really resourceful- not defeatist at all.
In a situation like that, many people would have panicked, or lain there shouting for help for ages and then given up- but not Mason: he devises many schemes (digging down, scraping along) but they are all fruitless. He is not afraid eventually to face the truth: he knows he’s had it and when he finally decides he is not to be saved, he sees the tin can and decides to die on his own terms, in his own time. The appearance of Miranda as her name suggests, is like a ray of sunlight for the hard working, solid Mason.
However, he has no idea of her background and, if anything, this story is a perfect illustration of not being a Cry Wolf person and also the danger of speaking carelessly to children-most of them will believe anything. The first misfortune for Mason is that Miranda has a reputation for lying/fantasising, so that when she tells her mother the story about Mason, her mother automatically does not believe her, even more so when she includes the word, ‘bloody’, in her description.
Johnny compounds the mishandling of the situation by deciding to solve an irritating problem (i. e. Miranda’s presence) by his lurid story; he clearly isn’t used to dealing with young children and does not realise what harm his story might lead to-and it does! Miranda takes the story at face value, and that’s the end for Mason. So a combination of unfortunate circumstance leads to Mason’s demise. My opinion-entertaining because of the ending; perhaps dubious, because we burst out laughing when a brave man is killed. Very Roald Dhal: is the name a pseudonym?
