William Wordsworth We Are Seven (p200-201)

I found this story very interesting. It gives insight into how children and adults view the world in two completely different ways, and how the views that we develop as a child are stolen from us as we grow older. The girl is of age eight, and she is described as one with beauty, innocence, purity, and full of life (lines 1-12). The individual then questions the girl about how many siblings that she has, and she sweetly answers that there are seven of them. She tells that whereabouts of her siblings and the questioner then comes to realize that two of her siblings have died and are buried under a tree in the church yard (lines 32-33). Puzzled, the questioner wonders why she still claims that there are seven of them when two are dead, and he insists on her saying that there are now only five (lines 35-36). Kindly, she still replies that there are seven of the children. She then goes to tell him about how she knits, sings, and eats her supper with the two under the tree (lines 41-48). The little girl either does not understand the concept of death at such a young age or she desires to be with them even though she knows that they no longer exist, so she continuously denies their absence. The latter seems to be more the case, because she speaks of God taking her sister (lines 50-53), indicating that she may have some understanding of death. Moreover, perhaps children are still able to sense the presence of loved ones past, but adults are no longer sensitive to this. Nevertheless, the little girl still experiences so much joy around the graves of her siblings. Still, she refuses to acknowledge their death, even with the continued persistence of the questioner. In the end she still declares that there are seven (lines 65-69). This story gave me insight into the many fears that we develop as we come into adulthood. In fact, it even seems that the questioner has intentions of ruining the joy of the little girl by demanding that that only five exist, as if he is trying to teach her how to grow into an adult. Or maybe he is frustrated because he has lost someone and is enraged that the girl and still enjoy her siblings after their death, but he is not able to. But which one is right? Who can determine how someone should views death?