Themes and message

Peer pressure and bullying

The main theme of the short story “Celia Behind Me” by Isabel Huggan is peer pressure and bullying. Celia is bullied because she is different from the other children (ll. 3-5). This suggests that bullies pick their victims for insignificant reasons, such as someone’s name or weight. Celia does not fight back, which encourages the other children to continue to bully her.

The children’s bully Celia in various ways. They leave her behind when walking home (ll. 16-18), they insult her and refuse to play with her (ll. 26-30), and, when winter comes, they throw snowballs at her (ll. 45-46). The bullying also gets worse as time passes (ll. 33-35).

 It is interesting to note that when Elizabeth beats Celia, the children take Celia’s side, which highlights their hypocrisy and lack of awareness. They do not realize that they too treat Celi...