Themes and message

Guilt

The short story “Sea Defences” by Hilary Taylor explores the theme of guilt through Michael, the main character.

Michael’s guilt develops after he witnesses Hannah Bird’s death and is unable to save her. Michael becomes traumatized by the event and develops a coping mechanism to deal with it and make up for her death. He invents a job in which he protects children, trying to prevent tragedies like Hannah’s death: “Parents turn their heads. Children wander off. If they didn’t have someone like me to watch out for them, they’d end up like Hannah Bird.” (ll. 28-29). His trauma and guilt make him carry on with the imagined job for 29 years (l. 34), never fully realizing that his behavior simply makes him look suspicious in the eyes of the parents. While he has told no one about what had happened to Hannah, he still hopes one day someone will tell him that he has “done enough” (l. 32) and “paid the price” (ll. 32-33), but, instead, people react unkindly ...